| Popis: |
The last two decades have witnessed significant improvement in sustainability reporting (SR) around the world (KPMG, 2013). While accountability to the external stakeholders should be the basic premise of SR, a number of observers have criticized the credibility and completeness of such reporting to ensure transparency and accountability (O’Dwyer & Owen, 2005; Adams, 2004; Adams & Evans, 2004). SR is observed as an important tool to manage the powerful stakeholders and ensure corporate legitimacy (Deegan & Unerman, 2011). The provision of assurance1 in SR can enhance the credibility of reporting and thereby can ensure the accountability and transparency to the stakeholders (Dando & Swift, 2003). In fact, there has been a steady increase in third-party assurance in SR in the last ten years. While in 2002, only 29% of leading global companies had purchased such assurance service, the adoption rate was increased to 59% in 2013 (KPMG, 20132). |
