Certified VSME Sustainability Reporting Course

Both, in full. Every Basic Module disclosure B1 to B11 and every Comprehensive Module disclosure C1 to C9, each anchored to its exact Annex I paragraph.

• Basic (11): basis for preparation · practices, policies and targets · energy and GHG emissions · pollution · biodiversity · water · resource use, circular economy and waste · workforce characteristics · health and safety · remuneration, collective bargaining and training · convictions and fines for anti-corruption and anti-bribery breaches.
• Comprehensive (9): strategy and business model · description of practices and policies · GHG reduction targets and climate transition · climate risks · additional workforce characteristics · human-rights policies and processes · severe negative human-rights incidents · revenues from certain sectors · gender diversity ratio in the governance body.
• Plus: Annex II at row level, the Scope 3 screening consideration that has no C-number of its own (and is therefore the one most often missed), the micro reliefs for undertakings with 10 employees or fewer, and Appendix C on how banks and investors reuse the data.

Delivered across 13 modules / 91 lessons (roughly 45 hours of structured study), with 156 knowledge-check questions and 13 graded module assessments. Disclosures are described in the course's own words with exact paragraph anchors — the course does not reproduce EFRAG's official disclosure titles.

This is handled explicitly rather than glossed over. Module 01 keeps five events separate — Commission adoption, scrutiny, publication in the Official Journal, entry into force, and the instrument's own first-application rule — and teaches you to check where the instrument actually is before relying on it.

Module 02 carries a standing instruction to reconfirm the final citation, entry into force, first-application year, national implementation and the identity of the reporting undertaking before relying on the statutory right to decline in real correspondence. The course teaches the decision method; it deliberately does not freeze a date-sensitive legal conclusion.

Curriculum content is reviewed on a rolling basis and the month of the most recent review is published on this page once recorded.

No — and that is deliberate, not a gap. The Voluntary Standard does not ask you to reproduce an ESRS double materiality assessment. It starts from a defined reporting architecture: some datapoints are always required, some apply only when a stated condition exists, some are voluntary, and some become voluntary for undertakings with 10 employees or fewer.

The course teaches a proportionate relevance and applicability process instead — an Applicability Matrix and a Relevance Screen that record facts, horizon, evidence, user and the B/C link so a reviewer can follow the conclusion later. There is no numerical materiality score, and the course is explicit that this tool must never be described as an ESRS double materiality assessment.

If you need the full double-materiality methodology — because you are in CSRD scope or advising someone who is — that is the Certified Materiality Assessment course.

No. The course opens where most SMEs actually start: a questionnaire arriving from a customer and a different one from the bank. Module 01 builds the regulatory picture from there, and Modules 02 to 04 set scope, architecture and project structure before any disclosure work begins.

Practitioners who already report under GRI, ESRS or IFRS S1/S2 can move quickly through the early modules and spend their time on the value chain cap, the micro reliefs and the cycle modules — the parts that have no equivalent in those frameworks. The AI Tutor adapts depth and pace to the experience level you set in your Learning Profile.

Often, yes — because the request travels down the value chain rather than following your country of incorporation. If you supply, lend to, insure or contract with an EU company that reports under the Accounting Directive, the questionnaires reach you regardless of where you are registered.

Two honest caveats. The statutory right to decline above-cap information attaches to undertakings covered by the amended Directive, so a non-EU supplier should treat the cap as a strong negotiating structure rather than an automatic legal shield. And a VSME report is voluntary everywhere — its value is that it is a recognised, consistent answer, not that it is compulsory.

Take this VSME course if your organisation is not subject to mandatory reporting under Accounting Directive Articles 19a and 29a, and does not exceed an average of 1,000 employees — and the reporting pressure is coming from customers, lenders, insurers or tenders rather than from a law addressed to you.

Take the ESRS (CSRD) course instead if you are in mandatory scope, or expect to be within your next two reporting cycles. ESRS is a different obligation with a different method — double materiality, all 12 standards, assurance readiness — and starting on VSME will not get you there.

Take both if you advise clients — most advisory portfolios contain companies on either side of the threshold, and the cap module is exactly the conversation your in-scope clients need to have with their suppliers. Complete this course on a Live Cohort, 1:1 Expert Mentorship or Applied Practice route and you join the LRA Alumni Club — 30% off any future LRA course, for life (Guided Flex routes don't unlock Club membership).

The course is built around deliverables rather than handouts, so the templates are the course. Across the 13 modules you build: an Applicability Matrix and Relevance Screen · a Boundary Memo and Omission Log · a company profile and site register · a practices, policies, initiatives and targets register · a B3 energy and emissions workbook with a factor register · pollution, biodiversity, water and waste registers · workforce aggregates with a restricted evidence index · a Scope 3 fifteen-category screen · a C3 target table and C4 climate risk register · an Evidence Register and Disclosure Index · a Final Report Template.

Plus the value chain pack: a Request Purpose Questionnaire, a Protected Undertaking Self-Declaration, the nine-row Annex II cap card for undertakings with 10 employees or fewer, the twenty-three-row matrix above that, a model response letter, a Publication and Access Decision Matrix and a Release Manifest.

Two different clocks, and it is worth separating them. The course is roughly 45 hours of structured study — on Guided Flex most learners cover it over 8–12 weeks at four to six hours a week.

The reporting cycle itself is the second clock, and Module 11 plans it explicitly: an illustrative twelve-week calendar worked backwards from the release date, and a 90-day implementation roadmap. Data collection, not learning, is what takes the time in a first cycle.

On 1:1 Expert Mentorship the two clocks overlap — you learn the module and apply it to your own data in the same week, with a mentor reviewing the output.

Dr. Ross Kurinko or a senior LRA mentor, subject to mentor availability. The mentor kickoff session (a separate scheduled call before regular sessions begin) captures your reporting context and is used to assign the best-fit mentor for your route.

Your mentor engagement starts and finishes within six months of purchase. Studio access continues for the full 12-month term in parallel.

Yes — and for advisory firms this is usually the right route. VSME reporting is unusually well suited to a productised service line: the same registers, gates and method notes apply across an entire SME client base, so the marginal cost of the second client is far lower than the first.

Corporate Programmes are scoped and quoted individually — delivered online, on-site, at Canary Wharf or hybrid, with per-learner credentials showing Corporate Programme participation. Request a quote here.

Because verifiable and assured are not the same thing. The Voluntary Standard does not oblige you to obtain assurance, but it does require information that is supported, reviewed and verifiable — a trace a knowledgeable reviewer can follow to a reasonably consistent conclusion.

That reviewer is real. It is the bank's credit analyst, the customer's supplier-risk team, or your own auditor asking where a number came from. Module 10 teaches the evidence trail and the honest-language drills that go with it — including why "independently verified by management" and "assurance-ready certified" are claims you must not make, and the model statement to use instead.

Yes — the LRA Alumni Club. When you complete this course on an engaged format (Live Cohort, 1:1 Expert Mentorship or Applied Practice) you become a member of the LRA Alumni Club for life — no expiry from the day you graduate. See the full Alumni Club section on the Full Stack programme page.

What's inside the Club: 30% off any future LRA course in any format; the annual LRA Alumni Summit (London + online); quarterly peer benchmarking calls with Dr. Kurinko under NDA; monthly office hours; an alumni-only Slack channel; early access to new courses and a vote on what we cover next; member-only briefings on emerging regulations; and the LRA job board / talent network.

Guided Flex doesn't unlock the Club — that's deliberate. The Club is reserved for learners who chose an engaged format (live time, mentorship or applied work).

Yes — there are three ways in.

1 · Through your employer (apprenticeship-led). If your team genuinely needs ESG reporting capability — a finance or sustainability function, a listed or private company, or a consultancy — ask your employer to:

1. Search ST0934 (Corporate Responsibility & Sustainability Practitioner) on the GOV.UK Find apprenticeship training service.
2. Shortlist 3–5 approved training providers.
3. Ask each: "Can you deliver ST0934 with a specialist ESG Disclosure / Sustainability Reporting pathway, using London Reporting Academy as a delivery partner?"

The provider gets in touch with us and enrols you — they handle the apprenticeship administration and all programme logistics, and London Reporting Academy delivers the specialist teaching.

2 · Apprenticeship funding & an official Level 4 pathway (employer-led). If your organisation already wants to use apprenticeship funding and the official Level 4 standard, we work with approved apprenticeship providers as a specialist ESG Disclosure delivery partner — get in touch and we'll connect you.

3 · Direct / self-funded. Individuals and companies who'd rather train directly, without apprenticeship funding, can start straight away — the routes and pricing above apply.

Every LRA curriculum is reviewed monthly. We re-read it against the standard or regulation it teaches — ESRS and EFRAG guidance, IFRS S1 & S2, GRI and the jurisdictional rules each course covers — and revise the material whenever something has actually moved. A month in which the standard didn't move is a month in which the course doesn't change; the review still happens.

The date of the most recent review is shown on this page — in the header and under the course outline. It's a record rather than a badge: it moves only when a review has been done, and it is removed rather than quietly carried forward if one lapses.

Because every route runs inside the Study Studio, a revision reaches everyone with active access — there's no superseded edition to be stuck on.

No academic-style multiple-choice exam. Across every route, assessment is built around applied disclosure work: you draft, structure and defend disclosures the way you'd produce them in a real reporting environment.

• On Guided Flex, the Studio runs AI-checked feedback on your drafts — flagging missing data, weak logic and thin evidence — and the Mistake Coach groups gaps by topic.
• On 1:1 Expert Mentorship, Live Cohort and Corporate Programme, a senior LRA mentor, faculty or corporate trainer reviews your drafts line by line on top of the AI feedback layer.

GRI Standards Certified Training follows the GRI partner format — see the GRI course page.

Private sessions move you from theory to your own reporting context. Depending on your goals and the mentor kickoff (a separate scheduled call before regular sessions begin), they typically include:

• clarifications on standards, regulations and disclosure requirements
• line-by-line review of your programme and course disclosure drafts and assignments
• discussion of real-life reporting examples and best practice
• personalised assignments and feedback
• additional materials, templates and resources
• support with developing an ESG reporting roadmap
• advice on data collection, validation and stakeholder communication
• adaptation of the curriculum to your specific industry, region or learning objectives

Sessions are normally held online so learners across time zones can join. For London-based learners, in-person 1:1 sessions at our Canary Wharf, London office can be arranged by prior agreement, subject to mentor and room availability.

You get immediate Studio access plus a dual onboarding sequence:

• Studio onboarding — the same flow as Guided Flex. Your Learning Profile (role, sector, jurisdiction, reporting context, preferred output language) feeds the AI Tutor.
• Mentor kickoff — a separate scheduled call with Dr. Ross Kurinko or a senior LRA mentor (subject to mentor availability) before regular sessions begin. The mentor captures your real objectives, current draft work and organisational challenges, and tailors the rest of the route around them.

After kickoff you receive a scheduling link to book sessions at times that work for you. You can begin and complete your mentor engagement within six months of purchase.

Yes. Format upgrades from Guided Flex to 1:1 Expert Mentorship are available on an individual basis — your Studio progress and Learning Profile carry over, so you keep the work you've already done and layer mentor sessions on top.

Email lra@reporting.academy to review options for your enrolment.

Standard Studio access is 12 months — usually comfortable, since the materials are concise and applied rather than padded.

If life intervenes, contact lra@reporting.academy: a further 12-month extension is available for 25% of the original fee.

Yes. The Study Studio and AI Tutor read and reason in eight languages — Arabic, English, French, German, Italian, Dutch, Russian, Spanish.

Your output language is set in your Learning Profile, so explanations, drafts and feedback come back in your preferred language. Standards quotations and regulatory text are preserved in their official versions; everything else adapts.

Yes — two discounts on the standard course fee:

• Self-funded individuals — if you're paying personally rather than through a company or organisation, you can request a 20% discount. Email lra@reporting.academy before you enrol.
• Groups — when three or more people from the same organisation enrol on the same course, the group qualifies for 20% off, regardless of who settles the invoice.

The two don't stack — the maximum on any enrolment is 20%. Three self-funded colleagues enrolling together get 20%, not 40%.

This is a simple headcount discount on a standard course — not the Corporate Programme. The Corporate Programme is a bespoke engagement: tailored materials, a dedicated trainer and scoped delivery. A group discount just means several people from one organisation taking the same standard course. See the Corporate Programme →

Yes — and it's interest-free, with no charge for spreading the cost. As a rule of thumb, fees up to £1,000 are split into two payments, and larger fees step up on the same basis — broadly one further instalment for each additional £1,000 or so. We'll confirm the exact split for your course and fee — email lra@reporting.academy and we'll set up your plan.

Your first payment confirms your enrolment and opens your Study Studio access straight away. Each subsequent instalment is normally due one month after the previous due date, according to the payment schedule agreed with you.

Instalment plans follow the same cancellation rules, pro-rata to the amount paid — see the refund question below.

14-day cancellation right. If you haven't yet entered the Study Studio, you can cancel within 14 days of purchase for a full refund (UK consumer statutory right under the Consumer Contracts Regulations 2013). Email lra@reporting.academy.

Once you enter the Studio, that statutory right ends — at checkout you give explicit consent to immediate digital access. After that, refunds are at LRA's discretion, considered on individual circumstances.

• 1:1 Expert Mentorship — your mentor engagement starts and finishes within 6 months of purchase. If LRA can't assign a senior mentor and schedule your kickoff within roughly four weeks, the mentorship component is pro-rata refunded (Studio access stays for its full 12-month term). Sessions not commenced within the 6-month window lapse; extensions by written agreement only.
• Live Cohort — if a cohort doesn't run, the cohort layer is fully refunded or rolled to the next intake (Autumn / Spring). Studio access stays.
• Instalment plans — same rules, pro-rata to the amount paid.
• Corporate Programme — governed by your enrolment agreement.

Postponements (extending Studio access rather than refunding) can usually be arranged — contact us before opening a refund case.

Full terms: Terms of Use §8. Governed by the laws of England and Wales.