Consultancy
Grant Thornton and SmartHead: Saving time while leading ESG transformation
Grant Thornton Hungary is a member of one of the world’s leading professional services networks, providing audit, tax, and advisory services. Within its structure, the Hungarian office has established a regional ESG and Sustainability Competence Center covering Hungary, Slovakia, Slovenia, Croatia, and Ukraine.
The initiative was driven by a recognition that ESG reporting has become essential to business strategy and that clients across the region need expert partners who can guide them through new sustainability regulations with both technical and digital support.
Challenge
As ESG regulations evolved across Europe, Grant Thornton’s consultants saw that many organizations were overwhelmed by manual data management. Large enterprises with multiple subsidiaries often relied on Excel spreadsheets for ESG data collection - a slow and error-prone process that required constant updates and senior oversight.
For Grant Thornton, this inefficiency also affected consulting capacity. Collecting and consolidating data left less time for advisory work, and the risk of errors in manual reporting threatened credibility and compliance. The office needed a digital solution that could automate, standardize, and audit-proof the process.
Solution
Grant Thornton launched an extensive search for a technology partner. Over three to four months, the team evaluated more than twenty ESG reporting solutions, comparing functions, usability, and regulatory readiness. SmartHead stood out early on for its audit-support features and responsive team. Following the evaluation, SmartHead was selected as Grant Thornton’s preferred ESG reporting platform for new clients in the region.
Grant Thornton’s consultants work directly inside SmartHead alongside their clients, collecting data, drafting narratives, and validating ESG information in one place. This collaborative workflow has replaced dozens of spreadsheets with a structured, traceable process.
The platform’s delegation and access-control features make it possible to assign data responsibilities across teams and subsidiaries securely, while built-in guidance helps users understand reporting standards without constantly referring to regulatory documents.
Dr. András Balásfalvi-Kiss
Partner, Sustainability & ESG Consulting
Grant Thornton Hungary
The functions SmartHead offers are unique. It’s very important that they support the audit part, and the flexibility SmartHead showed us after selection was a real advantage for our team.
Results
The impact is most visible in time savings. Grant Thornton estimates that clients can save the equivalent of one full-time employee’s workload per year by using SmartHead for ESG reporting.
Key benefits
Significant time reduction
Complex data collection and validation now require far fewer manual steps.
Audit-ready from the start
Verification features embedded within the process ensure compliance with less rework.
Smarter collaboration
Multiple team members can contribute simultaneously with controlled access rights.
Higher advisory value
Freed from repetitive tasks, consultants can focus on insights and client strategy.
When we show clients SmartHead, they realize there’s a faster, different way, and it saves a lot of time. Our competitors still rely on Excel tables, but SmartHead gives us a real advantage.
Dr. András Balásfalvi-Kiss
Partner, Sustainability & ESG Consulting
Grant Thornton Hungary
Future vision
Encouraged by the success in Hungary, Grant Thornton plans to extend its SmartHead partnership to other countries in the region. The goal is to establish SmartHead as a standard tool across its ESG advisory work in the region.
As both partners continue to innovate, future cooperation will likely focus on expanded carbon and taxonomy calculation features, further supporting the region’s shift toward efficient, data-driven ESG reporting.
Other references
Deloitte
A Smarter Way to ESG: Deloitte Teams Up with SmartHead
Forvis Mazars
Forvis Mazars Strengthened ESG Reporting Through Partnership With SmartHead