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Credibility of Sustainability Reporting
Irene M. Herremans,
University of Calgary
Jamal A. Nazari, University of Calgary
ABSTRACT. This paper discusses the current state of assurance statements for sustainability reports in the context of EBR. Archival data and interviews were used to explore the value added of assurance on sustainability reporting for both preparers and users. Users believed that the statements helped to eliminate greenwashing. However, the variety of the assurance statements, the lack of training for auditors, questionable independence, and the auditor’s inability to comment on the qualitative statements limits the value of assurance statements. Thus, dual assurance is emerging: auditor assurance to determine accuracy of the indicators and stakeholders’ assurance to determine quality of performance. We also found that preparer companies use some internal control measures that lead to internal assurances, increasing the integrity of sustainability reports. Both preparer and user organizations believed that both internal and external assurance led to significant improvements in sustainability performance.
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