A study of sustainability verification practices: The French case

Journal of Accounting and Organizational Change

Volumn 8, Issue 1, 2012, Pages 62-84

  Gillet, Claire ^a  

^a MONTPELLIER BUSINESS SCHOOL   (France)

Author keywords

Auditors; Corporate social responsibility; Environmental accounting and reporting; France; French case; Social accounting; Social and environmental accounting; Sustainability accounting; Sustainability assurance; Sustainability information; Sustainability verification

Indexed keywords

EID: 84857734773     PISSN: 18325912     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1108/18325911211205748     Document Type: Review

References (49)

1. Accountability (2003), AA1000 Assurance Standard, Accountability, London.
2. Accountability and KPMG (2005), Assurance Standards Briefing AA1000 Assurance Standard and ISAE3000, Accountability, London.
3. Adams, C. and Evans, R. (2004), Accountability, completeness, credibility and the audit expectations gap, Journal of Corporate Citizenship, Vol. 14, pp. 97-115.
4. Aw, Y.T., Moroney, R. andWindsor, C. (2009), The impact of assurance on the quality of voluntary environmental disclosures: an empirical analysis, paper presented at Annual Conference of Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, Adelaide.
5. Ball, A., Owen, D.L. and Gray, R.H. (2000), External transparency or internal capture? The role of third party statements in adding value to corporate environmental reports, Business Strategy and the Environmental, Vol. 9 No. 1, pp. 1-23.
6. Beets, S.D. and Souther, C.C. (1999), Corporate environmental reports: the need for standards and environmental assurance service, Accounting Horizons, Vol. 13 No. 2, pp. 129-45.
7. Capron, M. and Quairel, F. (2004), Mythes et Réalités de lEntreprise Responsable, Edition La Découverte, Paris.
8. Carey, P., Simnett, R. and Tanewski, G. (2000), Voluntary demand for internal and external auditing by family businesses, Auditing: A Journal of Practice&Theory, Vol. 19, pp. 37-51.
9. Choi, J.-H. and Wong, T.J. (2007), Auditors governance functions and legal environments: an international investigation, Contemporary Accounting Research, Vol. 24, pp. 13-46.
10. Compagnie des Commissaires aux Comptes (2003), Technical Advice on Conventional Intervention on Assurance Statements of Sustainability Reports, Compagnie des Commissaires aux Comptes, Paris, May.
11. Crawford, S. (2007), Social and environmental reporting and the corporate ego, Business Strategy and the Environment, Vol. 18 No. 4, pp. 254-65.
12. Dando, N. and Swift, T. (2003), Transparency and assurance: minding the credibility gap, Journal of Business Ethics, Vol. 44, pp. 195-200. (Pubitemid 38097359)
13. DeAngelo, L. (1981), Auditor size and audit quality, Journal of Accounting and Economics, Vol. 3, pp. 183-99.
14. Deegan, C., Cooper,B.J. and Shelly,M. (2006), An investigation ofTBL report assurance statements: UK and European evidence, Managerial Auditing Journal, Vol. 21 No. 4, pp. 329-71. (Pubitemid 43567726)
15. Deloitte (2007), Vérification des indicateurs de développement durable: Une analyse des pratiques des entreprises du SBF 120 en 2006, Deloitte, New York, NY, octobre.
16. Gillet, C. (2009), La vérification sociétale: une double lecture théorique1, 18ème Congrès de lAssociation Internationale de Management Stratégique (AIMS), Grenoble.
17. Gillet, C. (2010), Les comptes rendus dassurance contenus dans les rapports de développement durable: une analyse des pratiques des entreprises francaises, Management et Avenir, Vol. 6 No. 36, pp. 35-53.
18. Gillet, C. and Martinez, I. (2010), Decision of sustainability assurance: impact of governance and consequences on the financial market in the French context, paper presented at Annual Congress of European Accounting Association (EAA), Rome.
19. Gray, R. and Bebbington, J. (2001), Accounting for the Environment, Sage, London.
20. Herda, D. and Taylor, M. (2009), A Worldwide Comparison of Assurance on Corporate Social Responsibility Reports: Are Audit Firms Willing to Sustain this Line of Service?, American Accounting Association Southwest Region, Dallas, TX.
21. Hodge, K., Subramaniam, N. and Stewart, J. (2007), Assurance of sustainability reports: impact on report users perceptions of reliability, paper presented at Annual Conference of the Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand (AFAANZ), Melbourne, July.
22. Holsti, O.R. (1969), Content Analysis for the Social Sciences and the Humanities, Addison-Wesley, Reading, MA.
23. IAASB (2004a), International Framework for Assurance Engagements, International Federation of Accountants, New York, NY.
24. IAASB (2004b), International Standard on Assurance Engagements 3000, International Federation of Accountants, New York, NY.
25. Iansen-Rogers, J. and Oelschlaegel, A. (2005), Assurance Standards Briefing. AA1000 Assurance Standards & ISAE3000, AccountAbility & KPMG Sustainability, Amsterdam.
26. Igalens, J. (2004a), Analyse des premiers avis des commissaires aux comptes concernant la responsabilité sociale de lentreprise, in Bournois, F. and et Leclair, P. (Eds), Regards croisés en lhonneur de Bernard Galambaud, Ed Economica.
27. Igalens, J. (2004b), Comment évaluer les rapports de développement durable, Revue Francaise de gestion, Vol. 30 No. 152, pp. 151-66, Dossier le Développement Durable.
28. Kolk, A. and Perego, P. (2010), Determinants of adoption of sustainability assurance statements: an international investigation, Business Strategy and the Environmental, Vol. 19 No. 3, pp. 183-98.
29. KPMG (2002), International Survey of Corporate Sustainability Reporting, KPMG Global Sustainability Services, De Meern.
30. KPMG (2005), International Survey of Corporate Sustainability Reporting, KPMG Global Sustainability Services, De Meern.
31. KPMG and Publicorp (2006), Rapport de développement durable: vers une meilleure information, en quantité comme en qualité, Presse Informations, Paris, le 5 octobre.
32. Miles, M.B. and Huberman, M.A. (1984), Qualitative Data Analysis: A Source Book of New Methods, Sage, Newbury Park, CA.
33. Miller, J. and Glassner, B. (2004), The inside and the outside: finding realities in interviews, in Silverman, D. (Ed.), Qualitative Research: Theory, Method and Practice, Sage, London, pp. 125-39.
34. Mock, T.J., Strohm, C. and Swartz, K.M. (2007), An examination of worldwide assured sustainability reporting, Australian Accounting Review, Vol. 17, pp. 67-77.
35. ODwyer, B. (2003), Conceptions or corporate social responsibility: the nature of managerial capture, Accounting, Auditing and Accountability Journal, Vol. 16 No. 4, pp. 523-57.
36. ODwyer, B. and Owen, D.L. (2005), Assurance statement practice in environmental, social and sustainability reporting: a critical evaluation, The British Accounting Review, Vol. 37, pp. 205-29. (Pubitemid 40801221)
37. ODwyer, B. and Owen, D.L. (2007), Seeking stakeholder-centric sustainability assurance: an examination of recent sustainability assurance practice, The Journal of Corporate Citizenship, Vol. 25, pp. 77-94.
38. Park, J. and Brorson, T. (2005), Experiences of and views on third-party assurance of corporate environmental and sustainability reports, Journal of Cleaner Production, Vol. 13 No. 10, pp. 1095-106. (Pubitemid 40357159)
39. Power, M. (1999), The Audit Society: Rituals of Verification, Oxford University Press, Oxford.
40. Quairel, F. (2004), Responsable mais pas comptable: analyse de la normalisation des rapports environnementaux et sociaux, Comptabilité Controle Audit, Vol. 10 No. 1, pp. 7-36.
41. Rivière-Giordano, G. (2007), La qualité des informations sociétales: Une expérimentation relative à laudit environnemental, Thèse de doctorat en sciences de gestion, Université Montpellier 1.
42. Simnett, R., Vanstraelen, A. and Fong Chua, W. (2009), Assurance on sustainability reports: an international comparison, The Accounting Review, Vol. 84 No. 3, pp. 937-67.
43. Wacheux, F. (1996), Méthodes Qualitatives et Recherche en Gestion, Economica, Paris.
44. Wallage, P. (2000), Assurance on sustainability reporting: an auditors view, Auditing: A Journal of Practice & Theory, Vol. 19, pp. 53-65.
45. Zadek, S. and Raynard, P. (2004), The Future of Sustainability Assurance, ACCA and AccountAbility, London.
46. FEE (2002), Providing assurance on CSR reports, FEE discussion paper, 16 April. Global Reporting Initiative (2007), Sustainability Reporting Guidelines v.3.0, available at: www.globalreporting.org
47. IFAC (2006), The Determination and Communication of Levels of Assurance Other Than High (Study), International Federation of Accountants, New York, NY.
48. Mikol, A. (2006), Audit financier et commissariat aux comptes, 7e éd., Comptabilité, Ed E-Theque, Lille-Hellemmes.
49. Silverman, D. (2004), Qualitative Research: Theory, Method and Practice, Sage, London.