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- Crawford, Jason, 1975-, et al.
(author)
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Advanced digital technologies and sustainability assurance
- 2023. - 1
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In: Auditing Transformation. - London : Routledge. - 9781003411390 ; , s. 180-201
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Book chapter (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Digitalisation and sustainability have been described as interrelated drivers of change. Audit firms are adopting advanced digital technologies (ADTs) to improve audit quality, and the demand for sustainability assurance is set to increase dramatically as the European Union’s Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) comes into effect. However, little is known about the actual use of these technologies in sustainability assurance. To help fill this gap, this chapter investigates the use of ADTs in sustainability assurance in Sweden and provides an outlook on how this may evolve in the future. The data includes interviews with regulatory bodies, audit firms, and institutional investors, as well as secondary materials. The chapter finds that ADTs currently play a minor to non-existent role in sustainability assurance engagements performed by large accounting firms in Sweden. The reasons fall within three broader themes: sustainability reporting and assurance regulation, auditor-client dynamics and embedding ADTs, and the emergence of alternative solution providers. In light of the aforementioned developments, this chapter makes a timely and important contribution by identifying and discussing the tensions that exist at the intersection of the inside-out and outside-in approaches to ESG information provision to capital markets and how ADTs are implicated in these tensions.
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