Sustainable Development and Reporting has become the forefront for most organizations. With the growing number of sustainability reports developed by companies, it has become essential that disclosures made in the reports are accurate and reliable in order for stakeholders to make informed decisions. This entails the credibility of the reports and the transparency of organizations toward their stakeholders.
External Assurance is the practice of verifying and validating an organization’s performance disclosed in its sustainability reports. This helps protect the interests of stakeholders and provides a level of comfort to key decision makers, knowing that the information they use for business decisions is reliable and in full compliance with relevant reporting frameworks.
External assurance or verification can provide both report readers and internal managers with increased confidence in the quality of the company’s sustainability performance data.
The guideline in conducting an External Assurance is “AA 1000 AS” provided by AccountAbility UK.
How External Assurance can help?
- Assures the authenticity, accuracy and reliability of the organization’s performance
- Ensures credibility in performance among the stakeholders
- Improves communication, trust and reputation with all stakeholders
- Addresses the balance structure of reporting and calls attention to areas of improvement
- Reduces operational risk, thus increasing the organization’s? market value
- Scrutinizes your organization’s sustainability reports to make them stand out among others published globally
What we offer in External Assurance?
- Verify data integrity and validity disclosed in the sustainability report
- Align the assurance practice with AA 1000 AS principles
- Conduct high/moderate level of assurance
- Identify and suggest potential areas of improvement
- Measure the performance for the reporting period