Does the rhetoric art in sustainability reports obstruct the assurance practice?
ISSN: 1321-7348
Article publication date: 23 May 2023
Issue publication date: 25 October 2023
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to investigate the relationship between the readability of sustainability reports and assurance provider effort, captured by assurance delay and the moderating effect of the assurance provider.
Design/methodology/approach
This sample consists of companies operating in sustainability sensitive industries from 39 countries for the period that covers the years 2016–2018.
Findings
The results show that poor sustainability reporting readability is associated with longer assurance delays. Indeed, assurance providers spend more effort assuring clients when sustainability reports are less readable, as shown by long assurance delay. In addition, increases in assurance delay associated with poor sustainability reporting readability are driven by accounting assurance providers. These results hold after controlling for endogeneity using Heckman's (1979) analysis and other measures of assurance delay readability used in prior literature. By checking the specialization of assurance provider partners and setting aside dominant countries, the authors provide insight into the impact of assurance provider specialization on the association between sustainability report readability and assurance provider effort measured by assurance delay and thus, lending further confidence to the strength of the study’s main findings.
Research limitations/implications
This research provides preliminary evidence on the relationship between sustainability reporting readability and assurance delay as well as the influence of accounting assurance providers.
Practical implications
Sustainability assurance practice is viewed as a tool to add or enhance credibility. This study could be considered as another step into driving the standardization of sustainability reporting practice internationally.
Originality/value
This is the first investigation conducted in the sustainability literature on the assurance provider's response to the readability of sustainability reports.
Keywords
Citation
Mnif, Y. and Kchaou, J. (2023), "Does the rhetoric art in sustainability reports obstruct the assurance practice?", Asian Review of Accounting, Vol. 31 No. 5, pp. 712-732. https://doi.org/10.1108/ARA-08-2022-0202
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
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