New IAASB guidance helps advance assurance for non-financial reporting

New York, 6 April – Marking a significant step forward in supporting assurance for non-financial reporting, the International Auditing and Assurance Standards Board (IAASB) today published Non-Authoritative Guidance on Applying ISAE 3000 (Revised) to Extended External Reporting (EER) Assurance Engagements in collaboration with the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD)

The Guidance responds to ten key stakeholder-identified challenges commonly encountered in applying International Standard on Assurance Engagements 3000 (Revised), Assurance Engagements Other than Audits or Reviews of Historical Financial Information. The guidance promotes consistent high-quality application of ISAE 3000 (Revised) in extended external reporting assurance engagements to:

• strengthen the influence of such engagements on the quality of extended external reporting;
• enhance trust in the resulting assurance reports; and
• increase the credibility of extended external reports so that they can be trusted and relied upon by their intended users.

“Together with ISAE 3000 (Revised) and ISAE 3410, Assurance Engagements on Greenhouse Gas Statements, this guidance forms a strong package that will help enhance confidence in assurance reports and improve their reliability, including enabling practitioners to respond to new reporting regimes. We will continue to closely monitor current global developments to establish a coherent set of sustainability reporting standards, and are prepared to act to enhance our standards, frameworks and guidance to support progress.” according to IAASB Chair Tom Seidenstein.

Mario Abela, Director in Redefining Value, WBCSD comments “The IAASB’s Guidance is a significant step in raising the quality of assurance over ESG information.  Ultimately, the benefit will translate to investors and other stakeholders in terms of more credible information to support decision-making and accountability.”

WBCSD has been driving greater credibility in sustainability through its assurance project to help practitioners, companies and investors have greater confidence in sustainability reporting so that the information, regardless of what report it appears in, can be relied upon for decision-making.

The Guidance addresses a number of overarching matters, including applying appropriate competence and capabilities, exercising professional skepticism and professional judgment, and the preconditions for an assurance engagement, as well as more specific technical matters. The Guidance also provides further explanation and examples to better understand the distinction between limited assurance and reasonable assurance engagements.

This guidance was developed by the IAASB in collaboration and funding provided by WBCSD and the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation.