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Market for Sustainability Assurance Services
Learn more about the demand, supply and market for sustainability assurance services.
Market for Sustainability Assurance Services
- A relatively less well-established accounting practice when compared to sustainability reporting
- New form or type of assurance service
- Largely unregulated (in contrast to financial audits)
- Rapidly evolving
- A new market (demand and supply dynamics)
Demand for Sustainability assurance
What’s driving the demand for sustainability assurance?
- Voluntary undertaking in most countries
- Exceptions France & SA – where legislation encourages external assurance
- Stock exchange listing requirements encouraging sustainability reporting
- Directors seeking comfort in the credibility of information published
- Value addition from external assurance
- External assurance raises the profile of the sustainability report amongst internal stakeholders
- Sustainability assurance provider can identify areas for improvement (may also provide broad recommendations for improvement)
Supply
Who are the sustainability assurance providers and how do they understand sustainability assurance services?
- Accounting sustainability assurance providers
- Non-accounting sustainability assurance providers
- Assurance standards
- ISAE3000 (IAASB)
- AA1000AS (AccountAbility)
Review These Questions
Does your favourite brand publish a sustainability report? Search their website and download their report. If they don’t have one go to your second most favourite brand:
- Is it a stand-alone report or sustainability information contained within the annual report?
- What is the title/name of the report?
- What standards, if any, were used to prepare the report?
- Is that sustainability report externally assured? Find out by searching the report to see if it contains a sustainability assurance statement issued by an external assurance provider.
- Find, download and read a sustainability assurance statement/report.
- Who issued the statement?
- What was the scope and purpose of the engagement?
- What level of assurance was being provided?
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