HOW GREEN IS OUR COMPANY? SUSTAINABILITY ACCOUNTING TRENDS AND INTERNAL AUDIT IMPLICATIONS

[...]some suggestions as to how internal auditors might approach sustainability reporting are offered. Furthermore, in July 2020, the SASB and the GRI announced a plan to clarify how their two sets of standards can be used together.8 In September 2020, five organizations joined forces to begin work...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Internal Auditing 2021-05, Vol.36 (3), p.6-9
Main Author: Badua, Frank
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Accountability
Audits
CPAs
Human capital
Internal auditing
Internal auditors
Social accounting
Sustainability reporting
Trends
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Summary:[...]some suggestions as to how internal auditors might approach sustainability reporting are offered. Furthermore, in July 2020, the SASB and the GRI announced a plan to clarify how their two sets of standards can be used together.8 In September 2020, five organizations joined forces to begin work on a "comprehensive global corporate reporting system": the SASB, the GRI, the International Integrated Reporting Council, the Carbon Disclosure Project, and the Carbon Disclosure Standards Board.9 In a 2018 study published by the Center for Sustainability and Excellence, researchers retrieved and analyzed data from 642 companies in North America, 79 percent of which were in the United States. According to Chen et al., sustainability assurance is typically limited in scope, and the most commonly used standards include: the Statement on Standards for Attestation Engagement, issued by the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants; ISAE 3000, issued by the International Auditing and Assurance Standards Board; and AA1000, issued by the Institute of Social and Ethical Accountability.12 What does all this mean for internal auditors? Essentially, they are confronted with a mixed blessing: a couple of degrees of freedom absent from the endeavor to help their firm conform to financial reporting regulations. [...]far (at least in the United States), with regard to sustainability accounting, because of the nonmandatory nature of reporting and assurance standards, accountants and auditors - both external and internal - have the liberty to choose what to report and how to audit it.
ISSN:0897-0378