Credibility of sustainability reports: The contribution of audit committees

Concerns about the credibility of sustainability reports can be mitigated through assurance. Although audit committee remit encompasses monitoring of sustainability issues, there are potential complementary and substitution issues between governance mechanisms. This paper explores the relationship b...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Al-Shaer, H. (Author), Zaman, M. (Author)
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: John Wiley and Sons Ltd 2018
Subjects:
Online Access:View Fulltext in Publisher
LEADER 01836nam a2200241Ia 4500
001 10.1002-bse.2046
008 220706s2018 CNT 000 0 und d
020 |a 09644733 (ISSN) 
245 1 0 |a Credibility of sustainability reports: The contribution of audit committees 
260 0 |b John Wiley and Sons Ltd  |c 2018 
856 |z View Fulltext in Publisher  |u https://doi.org/10.1002/bse.2046 
520 3 |a Concerns about the credibility of sustainability reports can be mitigated through assurance. Although audit committee remit encompasses monitoring of sustainability issues, there are potential complementary and substitution issues between governance mechanisms. This paper explores the relationship between audit committees and sustainability reporting assurance using resource dependency theory. We find audit committee characteristics have an impact, additional to that of the board of directors and the existence of sustainability committees, on voluntary sustainability assurance. Our results also show that audit committee independence is associated with use of a Big Four audit firm for sustainability assurance. A negative association between sustainability committees and assurance, however, indicates assurance could be a burden for small firms. Overall, the findings suggest audit committees add credibility and help improve sustainability reporting through their independence, expertise and oversight. Copyright © 2018 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment 
650 0 4 |a assurance 
650 0 4 |a audit committees 
650 0 4 |a corporate governance 
650 0 4 |a corporate strategy 
650 0 4 |a management 
650 0 4 |a resource dependency theory 
650 0 4 |a sustainability 
650 0 4 |a theoretical study 
700 1 |a Al-Shaer, H.  |e author 
700 1 |a Zaman, M.  |e author 
773 |t Business Strategy and the Environment