Threats to Independence in Assurance of Sustainability Reports

Abstract

A growing number of companies are submitting their sustainability reports to an external assurance company.However, this fact is raising theoretical questions regarding the independence of the assurance provider. In this context, the objective of this work is to verify how it is possible to threat the independence in assurance of sustainability reports. The research is bibliographical and documentary. Assurance sustainability reports were analyzed from 2007 to 2016. The case is the enterprise Vale S.A. The result shows that there was no concomitant execution of audit and assurance services by the company; there are approaches to reporting independence, either in the title or in a specific paragraph; it exists an identification of the recipient, varying between board of directors, shareholders and other interested parties, nevertheless, throughout 2013-2014, there was no identification. Reports issued from 2013 to 2016 show that improvements need to be made by the assured company. Independence in these cases is questionable, since the assurer may act as a consultant, which demonstrates management interest.Simultaneous audit of the financial statements and assurance services may cause an impression of threats to independence; however, the results did not show it in the analyzed company. Further researches concerning assurance of sustainability reports independence are recommended.