The Evolution of Corporate Social Responsibility Assurance – A Longitudinal Study

Companies today are realising that they no longer only account to their shareholders for their financial performance, but to their broader stakeholders for the non-financial impact of their operations on society, the environment and the economy as well. The provision of independent assurance on these corporate social responsibility (CSR) disclosures is a relatively new mechanism that has been introduced to provide stakeholders with confidence about the veracity of the underlying CSR disclosures. Recent studies have found that the provision of independent CSR assurance has increased around the world. This longitudinal study covering the eight-year period from 2007 to 2014, undertaken in a South African context, examined the extent to which the largest companies listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE), have had their CSR disclosures independently assured. As such, this is one of the first studies to examine the emerging CSR assurance phenomenon over a protracted period. Although the extent to which companies have provided independent assurance over their CSR disclosures has steadily grown, the study also revealed that the majority still did not. Although the pool of CSR assurance providers has widened to become more inclusive, contrary to the expectation that the dominance of the Big 4 audit firms would gradually be eroded, the study found that the Big 4 audit firms were actually consolidating their position in this area.