GENERAL: Sustainability Assurance Industry Checks Companies' Non-Financial Reports

[Karl]

SocialFunds.com, 21 August 2008 –

In 2008, nearly 3,000 companies are planning to publish some type of corporate non-financial report or Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) report, the website Corporateregister.com projects. However, only a quarter of the companies are also planning to include third-party verification of the information in the reports. Although the assurance industry is rapidly expanding to meet growing demand, the lack of third party verification throws into question the majority of CSR reports published.

Corporateregister.com recently produced "Assure View: The CSR Assurance Statement Report" which examines the assurance industry. Its authors' Paul Scott and Iain McGhee find that even CSR reports that include an assurance statement can suffer from the lack of common standards and universal guidelines. Corporateregister doesn't have a specific definition for what constitutes a CSR report per say, because there is such a wide range of reports they accept, from purely environmental and EHS reports through citizenship reports to CSR and sustainability reports. The site does insist a CSR report includes quantified data and a timescale to differentiate reports from marketing brochures. If there's a relevant section in an Annual Report or an 'integrated report' that is at least six pages long, Corporateregister also accepts it.

The inclusion of assurance statements has increased every year for the past 15 years, with 650 verified reports of the 2600 CSR reports published in 2007, up from 500 verified reports in 2005, and double the number of CSR reports with assurance statements in 2002. The site doesn't track whether the reporting companies are publicly or privately owned. Companies employ three main methods to assure the information in their CSR reports. These methods include internal reviews of CSR reports, stakeholder review panels, and hiring CSR consultants or assurance companies.

Read Full Article: World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD)