Recertification Frequently Asked Questions

Modified on Tue, 06 Feb 2024 at 10:57 AM

When is the best time to submit the B Impact Assessment (BIA)?
As of July 1, 2024, recertifying B Corps will be expected to submit the updated B Impact Assessment 6 months prior to the company's recertification date**. You can find your recertification due date on your Dashboard when you log into the B Impact Assessment platform. Since the assessment is an annual reporting tool, please update the Assessment with the most recently completed fiscal year information.

What happens after I submit the BIA?

You will be notified by the Evaluation team when they are ready to kick off the Evaluation stage of the review. Wait times for each review stage are currently dependent on region in which your company is based – to get an accurate wait time to begin the Evaluation process, please contact the Global Partner in your region. If your review is in Evaluation Queue stage, it is likely that you do not have immediate steps until our team contacts you directly. We recommend making sure that the Team Members and Company Details sections of your company's BIA account are up-to-date to ensure a smooth process.

When will my company's assessment be reviewed?
Based on your assessment and its changes from the previous verification, your company will be initially assessed through our Evaluation process. Once this is complete, your review will progress to the Verification Queue stage, at which time you
may have 2-4 weeks to gather some preliminary documentation required for the Verification stage. However, depending on the review approach your company is on, there may not be any preparation tasks required of you in the Verification Queue stage. 

Once the Verification Queue stage is complete, team members with notifications enabled at your company will receive notice that we are moving the review into the Verification stage. Verification can take anywhere from 4 weeks to 12 months depending on the verification needs of your company's assessment. The Verification stage will have up to two rounds of review – each round is typically 1-2 weeks long, but may take longer based on the complexity of the company's assessment responses.

Can you give me the name of the analyst who will be working on the assessment with me?

You will be assigned an Evaluation Analyst during the Evaluation stage, and they will communicate with you via comments within the assessment platform, as well as through email when necessary.  Once you complete evaluation steps and are ready to move into the Verification stage, a Verification Analyst will be assigned to your company's review. You can communicate with the Evaluation Analyst by posting a comment in the assessment platform, until your Verification Analyst is assigned.  If you aren’t able to get your questions answered via the assessment platform while you wait to start Verification, please submit a support ticket here or reach out to our B Lab partners in your region. 


I am new to the B Impact Assessment and certification process, can you assist? 

We recommend using the Knowledge Base for learning how to navigate the assessment. Please also see the Assessments tab in the B Impact Assessment platform to see how the company's assessment was previously verified by looking at the Verified assessments. 



Can I delay recertification?

Companies are encouraged to recertify by their due date. In order words this means having updated, submitted and verified their assessment by the recertification date. This means submitting an updated assessment at least 6 months prior to the recertification date. However, we know that challenges may arise in meeting the recertification submission deadline. If your company has any extenuating circumstances which will impact your ability to meet the recertification timeline and requirements,, we ask that you contact your local B Lab partner or submit a ticket to our B Lab Global Support team via our KB Portal.  


**Please note that this submission requirement does not apply to companies undergoing 

recertification on the Large Enterprise (LE) or Multinational Company (MNC) approach.



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