Scoring 80-85 in the BIA

Congratulations on scoring 80+ points on the B Impact Assessment and thank you for your interest in B Corporation Certification. We look forward to working with you!

When a company submits the assessment with 80+ points on the B Impact Assessment, it is eligible to move forward with the B Corp Certification. The Certification process includes a detailed verification review, during which a Standards Analyst reviews the company's assessment answers and submitted documentation. It is very common for company's scores to drop at least 5-10 points during that time. For many questions, there are robust and specific requirements around activities that must be formalized through policy or have previously compiled metrics to support the response to earn credit for that question.

If your company should drop below the 80 point requirement, you can work to improve your score and reapply after those improvements have been implemented. To potentially reduce the chance of this occurring, the team at B Lab suggests to companies between 80 and 85 points to consider working on an improvement plan while waiting and during the verification process so that, if needed, the company can more quickly continue with the B Corp Certification and successfully certify.

An additional to the performance requirement for B Corporation Certification, B Corporations also make a legal change to the company's governing documents to incorporate stakeholders (if available in their region). Companies that complete the legal requirement also earn credit in the assessment. For companies close to the 80-point bar, completing the legal requirement prior to certification (instead of during its first certification term), can help them maintain a score of 80+ and simultaneously meet the legal requirement for certification in advance. To make that change now, please review the following: https://bcorporation.net/certification/legal-requirements

Many of the tools and resources to help a company improve its score can be found on the company’s B Corporation portal page (log in at www.bimpactassessment.net). After logging in, please look to the left hand side of the screen to find the following:

1. Improvement Report – Click on “Reports” to see your customized “Improvement Report.” Here you will find all of the questions where your company can earn more points. For each question, you’ll find the answer given, the points attained, the points still available, and the average level of difficulty in attaining those outstanding points.

2.  Revisit Report - Click on “Reports” to see your “Revisit Report.” This list includes all of the questions from a company’s assessment that were marked “revisit this” (the small check box to the right of each question) or which were skipped. Answering the questions that you were initially not able to answer is another opportunity to potentially increase your score.

3. Goals - The “Goals” tab makes it easier to achieve a practice highlighted in the assessment. You can add notes on how to apply the question to your company, set a target due date, and opt-in to email reminders. Please see the following article for details on this functionality: https://kb.bimpactassessment.net/support/solutions/articles/43000064004-goals

You can also find general resources and templates on ways to improve a company’s Governance, Workers, Community, and Environmental practices in the Best Practices section of our knowledge base.

Please note that the B Impact Assessment only assesses the current snapshot in time, but does not consider future plans. Against this background, please ensure that all answers provided in the B Impact Assessment are reflective of current policies and practices, conservative if in doubt and can be supported by documentation, if requested.