Our commitment to Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) Principles
There can be no sustainable, profitable growth without a market that is fair, inclusive and universal. Defending, improving and expanding this market is a core responsibility of any business that intends to last as long as we do. Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) principles are core to our business strategy of achieving sustainable growth. We recognize our responsibility for the impacts of our operations and products on stakeholders including employees, members, customers, stockholders, and communities. We are committed to aligning with all stakeholders towards long-term, sustainable growth. In alignment with our business strategy, our board of directors and senior management team oversee and manage ESG risks and opportunities.
We reference industry standards including the Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (SASB), Global Reporting Initiative (GRI), and Financial Stability Board’s Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD) to determine financially material topics and share progress on our efforts. As we aim to build a truly sustainable company, we know we are on a journey that involves continuous self-reflection and improvement. We are committed to continuing to excel in areas we are strongest and grow in areas where we can do better. As we work to continue to align with industry standards and share our efforts with our stakeholders, we aim to publish a sustainability report in 2021, and we may expand disclosures in these areas in the future - consistent with our commitment to developing a long-term sustainable business.
- Managing systemic risks from technology disruptions. Expensify is an always-on, business-critical service, committed to platform reliability. Maintaining operational continuity is a top priority and has a direct impact on our members’ confidence and the sustainability of our business. We maintain a geographically-distributed platform architecture with redundancy against site failure and operational flexibility for managing platform changes. We perform regular testing, actively monitor performance issues, and conduct pre-scheduled maintenance without service interruptions. From June 30, 2020, to June 30, 2021, our average service uptime was over 99.9%, exceeding our target of three nines.
- Ethics and conduct related to financial services products. At Expensify, we prioritize trust, and the safety and security of our financial services products. Maintaining trust with our members is crucial for our brand reputation. We have robust internal controls to go over and above regulatory compliance and protect stockholder and customer value.
- Recruiting & managing a global, diverse & skilled workforce. Attracting and retaining a diverse and global workforce, with employees of different races, ethnicities, nationalities, religions, ages, gender identities, sexual orientations, and more, is central to our ability to innovate and create value over the long term, and reflects our commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion in our core values. We are committed to eliminating bias in how we hire and compensate our employees, including equity-based hiring strategies and a democratic peer-ranked “blind” compensation system. We aim to empower every employee to create the career of their dreams. Our policies focus on aligning long-term employee and company interests, as well as robust growth and recognition programs.
- Data privacy. Customer privacy and maintaining customer trust is fundamental to Expensify’s success. We prioritize strong data privacy practices, procedures, policies and programs for business success. We evaluate risks and control mechanisms annually with an independent third party, and review privacy considerations as part of product development. Risks and opportunities are identified, evaluated, and managed on a regular basis to maintain compliance with changing global privacy laws and regulations. Customer agreements along with a variety of internal policies and external privacy policies describe how we safeguard customers' data. User data is not used for secondary purposes and we do not knowingly permit government monitoring in any country.
- Data security. Data security is essential to maintaining our members' trust, because we process and store sensitive financial and personally identifiable information. The control environment at Expensify reflects our commitment to data security. Our policies and procedures detail operational requirements that support system specifications, security commitments, and compliance with relevant laws and regulations.
- Environmental footprint of hardware infrastructure and emissions. We recognize the environmental impacts of our business, the impacts to our business of potential risks related to emissions such as carbon taxes and climate change, and the possibility for damage to our reputation and brand if we do not take action related to emissions and other environmental impacts. Expensify has engaged a third party to evaluate and model our Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions. For 2021, our estimated GHG emissions will be 4,736 tCO₂e. As of September 2021, we successfully offset our projected annual carbon footprint and became carbon neutral.
- Climate risks. We recognize the risks posed by climate change to our operations and revenue, including risks associated with the transition to a low-carbon economy and the physical impacts of climate change. Our efforts to become carbon neutral are one part of our commitment to addressing climate change. Starting in 2022, we aim to manage and report on climate-related risks and opportunities, and set targets and metrics to evaluate our performance, in accordance with the TCFD recommendations.
- Commitment to long term thinking. We believe that our environment, society, shareholders, and overall company will be best served if we remain focused on the long-term impacts of the decisions we make as a business. We aim to align all stakeholders around long-term thinking. To that aim, we are currently pursuing dual-listing on the Long Term Stock Exchange (LTSE) following this offering. At that time, LTSE would serve as our secondary exchange and provide further support for our long-term business focus.
