The Challenges of Assurance on Non-financial Reporting

Sonnerfeldt, Amanda; Pontoppidan, Caroline Aggestam

doi:10.1515/ael-2018-0050

Cited by 6 publications

(8 citation statements)

References 43 publications

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“…Considering the fact that the purpose of this report is to afford users the financial and nonfinancial information about the company's activities, it is necessary to decide a point: how to display it properly and accessibly to users? According to Sonnerfeldt, Ling, and Pontoppidan, (2020), the corporate reporting's role, function and limitations to strengthen its role as an agent of change, must be well understood by managers, regulators, corporations and their stakeholders.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Management Report as a Component of Nonfinancial Reporting in Ukraine: Theory and Practice of Drafting

Petryk

Петрик

et al. 2021

Ind. Jour. Manag. & Prod.

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The article covers the issue of compiling the Management Report. The need to implement a management report in Ukraine is caused by the processes of implementation of the European Union legislation on accounting in the national regulatory framework. The purpose of this report is to complement the annual financial statements with the necessary information, which should contain a reliable overview of development, activities and condition, as well as a description of the main risks and uncertainties in the work of an enterprise. This paper reviews the legislative framework for the preparation and publication of the Management Report and analyzes the Management Reports of domestic enterprises for compliance with regulatory requirements and the quality of these indicators. It has been defined that the lack of common normatively approved qualitative issues of the report and requirements for it are the significant problems. The format, scope, structure and accuracy of the information are determined at the discretion of an enterprise. The contained performance measures of enterprises significantly differ from each other and are not always given in comparison with the similar measures for the previous periods. Such presentation of data causes poor and uninformative reports. The results of the study prove that the Management Report should be based on the following principles: reliability and completeness, materiality, conciseness, integrity and comprehensibility; comparability of indicators. It is necessary to apply a risk-oriented approach and adhere the logic of presenting information with the elements of its visualization for its preparation. The study is based on the requirements of Directives 2013/34 / EU and 2014/95 / EU, the Law of Ukraine On Accounting and Financial Reporting in Ukraine, Methodological recommendations for the preparation of a management report, as well as empirical data obtained in the analysis of reports on management of Ukrainian enterprises.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Management Report as a Component of Nonfinancial Reporting in Ukraine: Theory and Practice of Drafting

Petryk

Петрик

et al. 2021

Ind. Jour. Manag. & Prod.

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show abstract

“…Nevertheless, it is believed that the capability of providing reasonable assurance is improving, primarily owing to the improved performance of external controls achieved in recent years . On the other hand, Sonnerfeldt et al (2020) observe in their studies that '…the conceptual underpinnings of assurance have been derived from the financial audit model, which is ill-fitted to apply to the nonfinancial domain. Unlike financial auditing where the subject matter is largely quantifiable, the boundaries of a firm, the criteria of reporting and internal controls of companies are established, the determinants of assurance on non-historical, non-financial information are less clear (…) The standard lacks precision in its prescriptions to address technical challenges such as risk and materiality assessment and the work to be performed when determining the levels of assurance for non-financial disclosures' (Sonnerfeldt et al 2020).…”

Section: Law Regulations In Poland and Standardization On Non-financial Reporting Range Vs Audit Contextmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Both these activities are a component of the process of auditing non-financial reports. Furthermore, Sonnerfeldt et al (2020) indicate that since 1990s 'an audit of non-financial information' has been increasingly often referred to as 'assurance services' in the standard setting arena and practice sites. In the European Commission's guidelines on non-financial disclosures, independent external assurance has been regarded as an example of how information can be made 'fairer and more accurate'.…”

Section: Notion Of a Non-financial Report Audit And A Review Of The Literature Dedicated To This Conceptmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In the European Commission's guidelines on non-financial disclosures, independent external assurance has been regarded as an example of how information can be made 'fairer and more accurate'. Implied in this report, assurance is purported as a third party, technical and neutral activity that provides verification that information has been presented in an unbiased and reliable way (Sonnerfeldt et al 2020).…”

Section: Notion Of a Non-financial Report Audit And A Review Of The Literature Dedicated To This Conceptmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…What seems to be lacking are comprehensive studies discussing the same question from the point of view of audit firms. Some recent publications across the world that raise the subject of auditing non-financial reports are by ; Sonnerfeldt et al (2020); Pucheta-Martinez et al (2018); Petryk et al (2018); Dal Maso et al (2020); Kaspina and Samoilova (2020); Cohen and Simnett (2015); Manetti and Toccafondi (2012); Lam and Khare (2010); Coram et al (2009); Manetti and Becatti (2009); Rivière-Giordano (2007) et al…”

Section: Notion Of a Non-financial Report Audit And A Review Of The Literature Dedicated To This Conceptmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Practice of Non-Financial Reports Assurance Services in the Polish Audit Market—The Range, Limits and Prospects for the Future

Bartoszewicz

Rutkowska-Ziarko

2021

Risks

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In recent years, many companies have been issuing non-financial information which is used by a wide range of stakeholders in their decision-making processes. Considering the fact that such reports play an important role in financial markets, the information they provide should be submitted to verification by an external, independent body. Our study, carried out in 2020, showed that only 2.3% of audit firms in Poland offer auditing non-financial report services. This was the starting point for our further investigations, the results of which will be presented in this article. The aim of the article is to identify the factors that limit or stimulate the performance of auditing in Poland with respect to non-financial data, and to determine the scope of operations carried out by audit firms which provide this service. The article comprises literature perusal and results of empirical studies among audit firms in Poland. Several important findings have emerged, including the fact that there are few companies in the Polish auditing market rendering the service of auditing non-financial reports, which are leaders in this field. The factor that most significantly limits the performance of non-financial report auditing is the low demand for such a service, which arises from the fact that verification and assurance of non-financial data are not obligatory for all reporting undertakings. Given that the number of CRS reports is increasing every year, it seems necessary to make full audits in order to confirm the reliability of non-financial information provided by reporting companies. Otherwise, stakeholders interested in these reports might be exposed to a risk of making inadequate decisions.

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The nexus between non‐governmental organisations involved in conservation and profit‐seeking state‐owned enterprises: A potential alternative credibility enhancing mechanism for biodiversity disclosures?

Ackers,

Adebayo

2024

Corp Soc Responsibility Env

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Responding to calls to incorporate biodiversity matters into accounting research, we attempt to provide a balance by moving away from the conventional focus on the reporting of biodiversity impacts and activities by public and private sector organisations, by focusing on how non‐governmental organisations active in the conservation space (CNGOs), interact with the public sector. In particular, we confine our study to explaining how South African state‐owned enterprises (SOEs) and CNGOs active in South Africa, report on their collaboration engagements. To explain the engagements between SOEs and CNGOs, we use their publicly available reports (annual/integrated) to explore the extent which these entities interact and collaborate. However, although several CNGOs operate in South Africa, we documented little evidence of formalised engagements between these SOEs and CNGOs, with Eskom being the notable exception. Notwithstanding the observed scant formalised reporting on engagements, we suggest that the reporting of CNGOs engagements could be harnessed to indirectly serve as alternative credibility enhancing mechanisms. In this way, it could contribute by attesting to the veracity of organisational biodiversity disclosures, and may provide a basis to hold these organisations to account for their contribution to environmental conservation, or degradation. In this context, we conclude by calling for a research agenda to investigate the relationship between CNGOs and their funding organisations, irrespective of whether they operate in the public or private sectors, as well as the potential of CNGOs to serve as advocacy and activism agents, thereby improving organisational biodiversity accountability.

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The Challenges of Assurance on Non-financial Reporting

Cited by 6 publications

References 43 publications

Management Report as a Component of Nonfinancial Reporting in Ukraine: Theory and Practice of Drafting

Management Report as a Component of Nonfinancial Reporting in Ukraine: Theory and Practice of Drafting

Practice of Non-Financial Reports Assurance Services in the Polish Audit Market—The Range, Limits and Prospects for the Future

The nexus between non‐governmental organisations involved in conservation and profit‐seeking state‐owned enterprises: A potential alternative credibility enhancing mechanism for biodiversity disclosures?

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