EY Value Realized FY22: Finland

Foreword from Country Managing Partner

I am pleased to present to you our annual report for the fiscal year covering 1 July 2021 to 30 June 2022 (FY22) – EY Value Realized: Finland. This report reflects the measurable, positive long-term value that we bring to our clients, people and society. In this report, we highlight our commitment to transparency, sustainability and improvement in our operations while showcasing how we’re building a better working world.

Our global purpose-led strategy called NextWave has been the catalyst to our transformation agenda to create long-term value for EY clients, people, and society and make our measuring and reporting more transparent.

Our growth has been steady in all business areas both in terms of revenue and people even amidst the unrelenting throes of the COVID-19 pandemic and the war in Ukraine impacting Europe and the entire world. By the end of FY22, our overall revenue was EUR164 million (up by 5.4 percent from FY21) and we employed 1,056 people by the end of FY22 (a 12 percent increase from FY21). I’m honored to say that to this day our people and teams are making a stellar effort in enabling EY Finland’s success, and bigger teams are a strong base for developing our business further

Increased focus on diversity, equity, inclusion and learning

At EY Finland, we greatly value diversity, equity and inclusion (DE&I). We strive for gender equality and want to offer our people equitable opportunities, and the recap of FY22 shows that this resonates throughout our company. For example, we have maintained gender balance in the total working population and in managerial and leadership roles and our ratio of men and women across most ranks is 50/50. However, we continue our efforts in increasing women in our partner pipeline through promotions, recruitment and varies initiatives.

In FY22 we implemented an equal family leave that allows parents regardless of gender to take a three-month paid leave. Our dedication to gender equality is further driven by EY powering the SHE Index, a gender-equality measuring tool for companies which was launched in Finland for the first time during FY22. We were also happy to officially partner with Helsinki Pride for the fourth consecutive year to support human rights and equality. Our Pride-themed events, workshops and learning sessions, including a Nordic-level Rainbow Week, lasted for the entire month of June and culminated in the official Pride Parade.

We also want to encourage our people’s personal development by offering them the chance to increase and improve their skills both through completing in-house EY Badges and enrolling in the virtual Tech MBA and Masters in Sustainability programs by Hult International Business School. In FY22, we nearly tripled the amount of money we invested in education and provided our people an average of 49 hours of training per person. This resulted in an increase in the amount of EY Badges completed by our people, and we had one Tech MBA graduate in Finland. Congratulations to all!

We hold sustainability and prosperity close to heart

Our operations are very much defined by our devotion to our carbon ambition. Following the footsteps of the global firm, EY Finland continues to do its part in delivering EY's global commitment to greenhouse gas emission reductions in line with the Paris Agreement 1.5°C goal. Overall, EY Finland’s emissions decreased

by 42 percent compared to our baseline of FY19. This is mainly due to a decrease in business travel. Facing the return of business travel, we expect FY23 to be the year when our emission targets will truly be tested.

We want to be our clients’ best partner on their sustainability transformation journey, from taking strategic choices to executing them. This requires deep sustainability expertise coupled with a strategic yet action-oriented approach. To provide this, we have launched EY Sustainability which offers our clients sustainable business and environmental, social and government (ESG) services geared towards value creation. Since its induction, EY Sustainability has offered a one-stop, all-encompassing point of contact for clients interested in making sustainability a growth platform and source of innovation.

Last fiscal year was a success also in terms of sustainability acknowledgments. Independent research company Verdantix and the Sustainability Magazine named EY as the leading consultant and service provider of ESG services in the professional sector. EY Finland was also ranked among the top 5% of companies assessed by EcoVadis and received the EcoVadis Gold level rating for our sustainability management practices. Furthermore, we implemented an environmental system following the ISO 14001:2015 standard during 2021 and 2022 and achieved an accredited certification in September 2022.

Along with our own people, we care for the society around us and want to harness our skills to help create economic and social prosperity through areas such as employment, community engagement, investments, innovation of services and taxes. Our social responsibility program, EY Ripples, encourages our people to actively participate in various local and global initiatives and devote up to 15 working hours a year to make a difference. The EY Ripples program has had over 245 EY participants in Finland since FY20. This is estimated to positively impact 221,000 lives – a truly wonderful and significant achievement that we want to surpass year after year.

Looking forward to a great future

All in all, this FY22 report is a testament to how we are constantly improving our operations at EY Finland and making sure that we continue to create long-term value for all. The results from the past fiscal year will serve as baselines and starting-off points to further increase our positive effects on our clients, our staff, our business, and the society around us.

Our operations are very much defined by the notion that we have a unique position to support our clients in their journey to conducting more sustainable and smarter business. We will continue on this path to make sure that we prioritize sustainability and ESG factors in everything we do, starting from our own operations and extending to the way we serve and help our clients.

I want to thank our people, clients, and other stakeholders for yet another exciting and successful fiscal year. With the next one already ongoing, I believe we can intensify our collaboration to create even more innovations and solutions towards a better working world.