| dc.description.abstract | Today, there is a great focus and many expectations on how sustainability reporting for the
business sector in Europe will be and how it will be prepared.
The background of the study is EFRAG’s launch of a public publication of the draft of a
European sustainability standard, with various requirements linked to 13 sustainability themes,
with a deadline for feedback in August 2022. A broad variety of different stakeholders
responded to the draft, through a two-part survey. The new sustainability standard is a part of
CSRD and is expected to enter into force from 2024. The set of standards is called the European
Sustainability Reporting Standard (ESRS).
The purpose of this thesis is to investigate how the auditing industry reacted to the draft of
ESRS. Thereafter to investigate the challenges and suggestions for improvement, by analyzing
published comment letters and surveys.
Our research question of this thesis is “what reactions and expectations from the auditing
industry have come as a result of the draft on the sustainability reporting standards, and which
challenges does this entail for the auditors’ assurance of non-financial information?”. In order
to answer this question, we have utilized relevant theory and research as our starting point.
Furthermore, we have used qualitative theory, feedback from the companies within the auditing
industry, the ESRS and ISAE 3000 standards. We find that the feedback can be linked to five
conditions: the use of a materiality assessment, the value chain, the implementation process,
the auditor’s assurance of non-financial information and information overload. | en_US |
