A Critical Evaluation of Assurance Statement on Corporate Social Responsibility and Sustainability Reporting in Malaysia

In tandem with the evolution of reporting, it is timely that non-financial information such as corporate social responsibility (CSR) and sustainability reporting be verified by third-party through assurance practices. However, in Malaysia only a handful of CSR and sustainability reports are independently assured even though prior literature indicates that independent CSR assurance improves credibility of information. This paper highlights some issues surrounding an assurance practice through extensive content analyses of the assurance statements on CSR and sustainability reports of eight (8) public listed companies in Malaysia. Results of the study indicate that there are three main issues that need to be addressed; the lack of completeness of the verification statements, the need for competence and independence of the verifiers and finally the need to address specific stakeholders.