Corporate Report Verification
Communicating performance data and information allows a company to demonstrate how it meets the challenge of sustainability - in its broadest sense - and to show the improvement it has made on specific issues. The information a company wishes to communicate varies considerably. It may be at site or corporate levels, be specific to a product or management system, relate to greenhouse gas emissions and associated projects, customer satisfaction, stakeholder concerns/dialogue, etc.
LRQA sees its role as assuring that published data and information provides a true and transparent account of your company's business and that data and information is complete and balanced.
What is Corporate Report Verification?
Corporate Report Verification is a process which evaluates a company's 'sustainability' report to ensure that it:
- identifies subject matter that is material to stakeholders
- responds to these material concerns
- has systems in place to manage its reporting and performance, and that
- quality data and information is disclosed.
'Sustainability' reports may also be known as social responsibility, corporate social responsibility or citizenship reports.
How can Corporate Report Verification benefit my organization?
Verification and validation by an independent third party organization can enhance the status of data and information communications.
Verified information that has been assured by an independent third party enables a company to provide more credible information. External verification and validation allows a company to enhance its image with external stakeholders. In addition it provides appropriate information to the supply chain and customers or institutions that need or want such data.
The process of providing the data and information encourages a company to consider the implication of its processes, products, and management systems and identifies opportunities for improvements which can produce cost reductions and commercial advantages.
Our verification process
In order to provide a professional judgment, our process is based on several core principles which include:
- Review of the scope of work. This includes confirming audit criteria either stipulated by legal requirements or through pre-verification discussions with customers and/or their appropriate stakeholders.
- Verification of:
- Data- based on a risk analysis carried out by LRQA the datasets are either verified back to source material or checked only at top level i.e. aggregation of data. Typically monitoring, measurements and reporting systems are sampled to determine their reliability, accuracy and potential for introducing statistical errors, mis-statements or omissions. Validity of assumptions used in calculations is questioned. For example:
- whether an industry or installation specific conversion factor is used to calculate emissions resulting from combustion
- whether rates for accidents are calculated correctly in reported health and safety statistics
- whether claims about supplier payment periods are traceable through the financial system
- Accuracy of calibration systems is also assessed to confirm that they meet materiality requirements.
- Information- through interviews with senior management and relevant employees to corroborate supporting documentary evidence and to confirm that it is free of inconsistencies and faithfully reproduced
- Systems and Control- by auditing the robustness of data systems and/or performance tracking systems across the company to assure the implementation of company operations, controls and monitoring requirements and decisions made in the LRQA risk assessment of the data set.
- Evaluation of progress against performance targets.
- Production of reports: including a comparison of factual opinion on the materiality of the data to an opinion of performance documented in an assurance statement for publication.
Who can be verified?
Any company, regardless of its industrial sector, can publish a corporate 'sustainability' report. The publication may result from a voluntary or mandatory disclosure requirement in the national legislation.
How can LRQA help?
At LRQA, we customize our verification to meet your criteria and required level of assurance. We routinely verify corporate reports against international criteria and standards such as:
To better assist you, we will make flexible arrangements to make sure your corporate report is verified in accordance with agreed deadlines.
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