Sustainability Reporting and Assurance: A Historical Analysis on a World-Wide Phenomenon

Abstract

Sustainability reporting and assurance for sustainability reports have been used by organisations in an attempt to provide accountability to their stakeholders. A better understanding of current practices is important to provide a base for comparative and trend analyses. This paper aims to consolidate and provide information on sustainability reporting activities, assurance for sustainability reports practice and types of assurance providers. Another aim of this paper is to provide a historical perspective of these themes, summarize and compare previous studies, and suggest opportunities for future research. To accomplish these objectives, a literature review was performed, and an analysis of the organisations included in the Fortune Global 500 2010 was completed and general results were presented and consolidated by country. These results demonstrate that all organisations analysed provided some type of information in relation to their social or environmental performance in their official website. The percentage of organisations issuing a formal sustainability report has been increasing in the last few years. However, the percentage of organisations assuring their sustainability report is stagnate. Types of assurance engagements include those performed by accountants and consultants, but new practices have emerged, namely the "mixed approach" and the "stakeholder or specialist review". The analysis also shows that the practices of issuing sustainability reports and having them assured have become a worldwide phenomenon, occurring in developed and emerging economies around the world.

CEO Compensation and Sustainability Reporting Assurance: Evidence from the UK

“…This is consistent with prior literature and the argument that assurance provided by Big4 accountancy firm is of higher importance than external assurance provided by other assurance providers (see for e.g. Junior et al 2014;Cheng et al 2012;Hodge et al 2009). We find SUSCOM t−1 is positive and significant (p < 0.01).…”

“…The reporting of sustainability policies and practices without independent assurance however is of reduced value to stakeholders. In the UK, as in other countries, independent assurance of sustainability reports is not mandatory (Junior et al 2014) and thus companies may voluntarily adopt assurance to improve internal reporting process and quality of reported information, and to garner stakeholder confidence in reported information (KPMG 2008). The voluntary adoption may also reflect and signal a commitment to deeper values such as trust, credibility and confidence.…”

O Estado Da Arte Da Asseguração Dos Relatórios De Sustentabilidade: Um Estudo Das Empresas Do Índice De Sustentabilidade Empresarial (Ise) 2016

“…Assim, de maneira similar aos relatórios de sustentabilidade, o processo de asseguração sobre as informações de sustentabilidade das organizações não é obrigatório, mas é considerado uma importante ferramenta na tentativa de as empresas prestarem contas aos seus stakeholders (Junior;Best & Cotter, 2014). Cadbury (2000) explica que a governança corporativa pode ser entendida como o sistema pelo qual as empresas são dirigidas e controladas, equilibrando o bemestar entre as partes interessadas e reduzindo os riscos do negócio.…”

A Provider’s Approach to the Assurance Market of Sustainability Reports in Spain

“…As asserted by Junior et al (2014), a greater understanding of the assurance process and the relationships emanating from it are required to support its effectiveness and increase its transparency towards stakeholders. Furthermore, assessing assurance quality is necessary to improve the services offered within the assurance market (Zorio et al 2013).…”