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Ethical Issues in the Assurance of Sustainability Reports: Perspectives from Assurance Providers

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Abstract

The objective of this paper is to investigate, through a qualitative study based on 38 semi-structured interviews with agents who provide assurance of sustainability reports, how they perceive and manage ethical issues underlying the verification of sustainability reports. Most of the ethical issues observed involve four interconnected aspects: the commercialism underlying sustainability assurance, the symbolic nature of the verification process, interdependency between auditing and consulting activities, and familiarity with the audited companies. The findings shed light on the reflexivity of assurance providers on these issues and the legitimation strategies used to explain how they reconcile the independence and impartiality required for auditing activities with commercial aspects related to client–provider relationships. The study also shows the role of contextual variables in the ethics of assurance services. The paper contributes to the literature on the legitimacy of sustainability assurance and commercialism of the audit function. Practical implications and avenues for future research are also developed.

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Fig. 1

Source: self-elaborated

Fig. 2

Source: data from interviews

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Acknowledgements

This article is a result of the Chaire de recherche du Canada sur l’internalisation du développement durable et la responsabilisation des organisations and a Research Group funded by the Basque Autonomous Government (Grupos de Investigación del Sistema Universitario Vasco; IT1073-16 - GIC 15/176).

Funding

This study was funded by the Canada Research Chair in Sustainable Development Management Standards and a Research Group funded by the Basque Autonomous Government.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Département de management, Faculté des sciences de l’administration, Université Laval, Pavillon Palasis-Prince, 2325, rue de la Terrasse, Local 1638, Québec, QC, G1V 0A6, Canada

    Olivier Boiral, Marie-Christine Brotherton & Julie Bernard

  2. Department of Management, Facultad de Economía y Empresa, University of the Basque Country UPV-EHU, Plaza Oñati 1, 20018, San Sebastian, Spain

    Iñaki Heras-Saizarbitoria

Authors
  1. Olivier Boiral
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  2. Iñaki Heras-Saizarbitoria
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  3. Marie-Christine Brotherton
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  4. Julie Bernard
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Correspondence to Iñaki Heras-Saizarbitoria.

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Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Research Involving Human Participants

The qualitative research procedures performed in the qualitative fieldwork were in accordance with the reference ethical standards and guidelines. All interviewees signed a consent form approved by the ethical research committee of the Université Laval (Canada).

Informed Consent

Informed consent was obtained from all the participants interviewed in the study.

Appendix: Semi-structured Script Used for the Interviews

Appendix: Semi-structured Script Used for the Interviews

Section 1: Information About the Sustainability Report Assurance Process

  • Trends in sustainability report assurance

  • Motivation of the reporting company to get assurance

  • Standards used for the sustainability report assurance

  • Level of assurance

  • Responsibility limitation of the assurance provider

  • Scope of the assurance process

Section 2: Methodology Used for the Assurance Process

  • Verification according to the GRI guidelines

  • Actual methods used to perform the assurance process

  • Best practices for the assurance process

  • Difficulties observed during the assurance process

  • Improvements required for the assurance process

Section 3: Results of the Assurance Process

  • Opinion about the general content of sustainability reports

  • Reliability of sustainability reports

  • General recommendations made to reporting companies

  • Characteristics of published assurance statements

  • Implication of the assurance process for stakeholders

Section 4: Professionalism and Independence of Assurance Providers

  • General background of assurance providers

  • Distinctions between assurance providers coming from different backgrounds

  • Justification of assurance providers’ objectivity, independence and professionalism

  • Distinctions between assurance and consulting works

  • Important skills needed for assurance providers

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Boiral, O., Heras-Saizarbitoria, I., Brotherton, MC. et al. Ethical Issues in the Assurance of Sustainability Reports: Perspectives from Assurance Providers. J Bus Ethics 159, 1111–1125 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-018-3840-3

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