Sustainability assurance guide launched by institute
ICAEW launch guidelines to sustainability assurance reporting
The ICAEW launch a guide to the benefits of sustainability assurance,
reporting what businesses can expect to receive from its accountants.
The booklet outlines the assurance provided by accountants in practice and
consists of questions and answers, such as what an assurance service is and what
it should achieve.
The guide, “Sustainability assurance – your choice”, is aimed at helping
businesses which want to enhance the creditability of its environmental or
social reporting in an annual report or to confirm the views expressed in it.
Richard Porter, partner in risk assurance at PwC, said assurance aided
organisations in thinking about sustainability issues more thoroughly.
Porter, who was part of the team which produced the booklet said: “If it’s
material to your business, it’s material to your stakeholders, and the booklet
is a very helpful guide for organisations either considering or taking stock of
their assurance approach.”
The guide highlights that there is no single generally accepted framework for
preparing a sustainability report. However, there are a variety of voluntary
guidelines available such as the Connected Reporting Framework, proposed by the
Prince of Wales Accounting for Sustainability Project.
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