The need for assurance is never more acute than in times of turbulence and uncertainty. The events following the financial market crisis demonstrate the catastrophic consequence of risk taking that exceeds the board’s appetite, and of not joining up risk intelligence for sound decision making. Boards and senior management alike consistently seek the ’one truth’ about risk exposures and strength of controls but are continuing to grapple with the challenge. Much has been written about assurance and the governance of risks, but mainly by those who provide it - such as internal auditors, accountants and information security technologists - for the purpose of advancing their professional practices. Less is written for or by those in governance who need assurance for the effective discharge of their responsibilities. Regulations do not usually go beyond acknowledging its importance and rely on those in the boardroom to get it right. Studies have consistently shown the link between weak corporate governance and corporate failures. The lack of reliable assurance has often been a factor. Assurance, as an integral part of corporate governance, cannot be taken for granted. It requires conscious action across the organisation. It is time to rethink assurance beyond its usual functional boundaries, to focus on what matters to the business and how discussions in the board room can be better supported by more joined up assurance. This book provides practical guidance for those who need that support as well as those who deliver assurance.

Sustainability Accounting and Integrated Reporting deals with organizations’ assessment, articulation and disclosure of their social and environmental impact on various groups in society. There is increasingly an understanding that financial information does not sufficiently discharge organizational accountability to members of society who are demanding an account of the social and environmental impacts of companies’ and other organizations’ activities. As a result, organizations report ever more social and environmental information, and there are simultaneous movements towards providing the information in an integrated fashion, showing how social and environmental activities influence each other, members of society and the financial aims of the organization. The book Sustainability Accounting and Integrated Reporting provides a broad and comprehensive review of the field, focusing on the interconnection between different elements of these topics, often dealt with in isolation. The book examines the accounting involved in the collection and analysis of data, control processes over the data, how information is reported to external parties, and the assurance of the information being reported. The book thereby provides an overview useful to practitioners (including sustainability managers, consultants, members of the accounting profession, and other assurance providers), academics, and students.

This timely handbook provides a current and comprehensive examination of integrated reporting, both practical and research-based. It offers insights and different perspectives from more than 60 authors, including representatives of the International Integrated Reporting Council, Integrated Reporting Committee of South Africa, professional bodies and audit firms, as well as leading academics in the fields of integrated reporting, sustainability reporting and corporate social responsibility. This collected work provides an in-depth review of the development of integrated reporting, with a focus on the interpretation and guidance provided by the International Integrated Reporting Council. It encourages the development of new thinking and research topics in the area of integrated reporting (such as links between integrated reporting and reports focused on financial and corporate social responsibility matters), as well as showcasing how integrated reporting issues are seen and practiced in different parts of the world. The chapters include reviews of the most recent research, practitioner viewpoints, conceptual pieces, case studies and disclosure analyses. Accessible and engaging, this handbook will be an invaluable overview for those new to the field or those who are interested in ensuring they are up to date with its developments, as well as those who are concerned with how to construct an integrated report.

New Challenges for Future Sustainability and Wellbeing is a collection of studies about sustainability and related challenges, such as income, wealth, the environment, education and regional equality that influence the pace of economic development and affects the well-being of people and organisations all over the world.

The increasingly crucial role of companies’ non-financial disclosure (NFD) and integrated reporting (IR) has led to a lively debate among academics, practitioners, and regulators on the approaches, framework, contents, principles, and standards that should oversee these forms of reporting. Through several expert contributions, conducted both with qualitative and quantitative methodologies, this book provides an up-to-date portrait of the debate by exploring corporate NFD either in its mandated contents or voluntary information. Contributing authors provide studies that encompass the different lines of NFD, namely non-financial risk reporting, sustainability reporting, and intellectual capital reporting, as well as the integration of financial and non-financial information through IR, the assurance of the NFD and IR through auditing activities, and the role of management and CFOs in NFD and IR.

In the wake of the recent financial crisis, increasing the effectiveness of auditing has weighed heavily on the minds of those responsible for governance. When a business is profitable and paying healthy dividends to its stockholders, fraudulent activities and accounting irregularities can go unnoticed. However, when revenue and cash flow decline, internal costs and operations may be scrutinized more diligently, and discrepancies can emerge as a result. Effective Auditing for Corporates provides you with proactive advice-to help you safeguard core value within a corporation and to ensure that auditing processes and key personnel meet the expectations of management, compliance, and stockholders alike. Aimed primarily at auditors (both external and internal), risk managers, accountants, CFOs, and consultants, Effective Auditing for Corporates covers: * Compliance and the corporate audit * Fraud detection * Risk-based auditing * The development of Sarbanes-Oxley * Cultural changes in external auditing * Auditing management information systems

This is the first book to finally address the umbrella term corporate defense, and to explain how an integrated corporate defense program can help an organization address both value creation and preservation. The book explores the value preservation imperative, which represents an organization’s obligation to implement a comprehensive corporate defense program in order to deliver long-term sustainable value to its stakeholders. For the first time the reader is provided with a complete picture of how corporate defense operates all the way from the boardroom to the front-lines, and vice versa. It provides comprehensive guidance on how to implement a robust corporate defense program by addressing this challenge from strategic, tactical, and operational perspectives. This arrangement provides readers with a holistic view of corporate defense and incorporates the management of the eight critical corporate defense components. It includes how an organization needs to integrate its governance, risk, compliance, intelligence, security, resilience, controls and assurance activities within its corporate defense program. The book addresses the corporate defense requirement from various perspectives and helps readers to understand the critical interconnections and inter-dependencies which exist at strategic, tactical, and operational levels. It facilitates the reader in comprehending the importance of appropriately prioritizing corporate defense at a strategic level, while also educating the reader in the importance of managing corporate defense at a tactical level, and executing corporate defense activities at an operational level. Finally the book looks at the business case for implementing a robust corporate defense program and the value proposition of introducing a truly world class approach to addressing the value preservation imperative. Cut and paste this link (https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=u5R_eOPNHbI) to learn more about a corporate defense program and how the book will help you implement one in your organization.