Certification Standards According to Global Investors and Regulators' Demands
"Need to Strengthen Information Authentication Levels"
Samil PwC gave a positive evaluation on the 25th regarding the recently announced International Standard on Sustainability Assurance (hereinafter ISSA 5000). This standard unifies corporate sustainability disclosure criteria and makes them comparable, and is expected to be managed at the same level as financial information.
ISSA 5000 is an advanced version of ISAE 3000, a standard used by 92% of global companies for sustainability disclosure assurance, established by the International Auditing and Assurance Standards Board (IAASB) under the International Federation of Accountants (IFAC). IAASB developed the International Standards on Auditing (ISA), which are international standards for financial statement audits, adopted by over 130 countries including Korea. Therefore, it seems natural that ISSA 5000 will become a global standard.
The emergence of this assurance standard is in response to demands from global investors and major national regulatory agencies. According to PwC’s survey, 94% of investors believe that corporate sustainability information contains false information, and 85% responded that they trust reports certified at the same level as financial audits.
Steven Kang, Sustainability Platform Leader at Samil PwC, emphasized, “Europe and the United States plan to raise the level of information assurance to be similar to that of corporate financial statement audits,” adding, “The era has come when sustainability information must be managed as strictly as financial information.” He suggested that domestic companies should prepare by maintaining continuous interest from governance bodies, establishing internal standards, and selecting professional assurance organizations.
Samil PwC plans to support companies in providing more transparent and reliable sustainability information through the ISSA 5000 standard.
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