Assurance of Non-financial Information Statements, a new challenge for the Audit Profession

Resumen

Background: The issuance of European Directives 2014/95/EU and 2013/34/EU has forced largeEuropean companies to issue a statement of non-financial information. Most of them had already beenreporting similar statements: social responsibility or sustainability reports. For the first time, it has beendetailed what type of information should be included in such a statement and it is recommended to haveit assured. While the extent to which verification is mandatory will depend on each member state, it islogical to assume that in order to give more credibility to the information included, most companieswill choose to request verification by an independent accredited body.Purpose of the research: In most countries, it is audit firms that are taking the initiative in verifyingstatements of non-financial information. But obviously, this verification is far from being similar to theaudit of financial statements, mainly due to the lack of systematization of non-financial information andthe lack of measurement criteria. Our objective is to point out those aspects that should be regulated orrequired to ensure that the assurance is carried out in a homogeneous way and guaranteeing the qualityof the process.Methodology: We have carried out a bibliographic review of the state of the art, raising research issuesthat will need to be addressed in future research.Results and mayor conclusion: Internationally agreed standards are crucial to ensure the credibility ofNFI statements in a financial market without borders. In this regard, issues such as materiality andindependence must be revisited by the policy maker. Further research needs to be carried out onstrategies to place higher value on NFI reporting, by means of increasing transparency or avoiding thataudit independence is impaired by becoming provider for NFI assurance.