The Auditing and Assurance Standards Board (AASB) has adopted the International Standard on Sustainability Assurance (ISSA) 5000, General Requirements for Sustainability Assurance Engagements, as a new Canadian Standard on Sustainability Assurance (CSSA) 5000.
Background
Sustainability information is highly relevant and has a significant impact on Indigenous Peoples. The Government of Canada has accepted the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) Report, including the 94 Calls to Action. The TRC’s Call to Action 92 highlights the necessity of incorporating Indigenous rights into corporate policies and operations.
The AASB recognizes that:
- practitioners may struggle to determine how Indigenous rights are incorporated into an entity’s policies and operations, especially when sustainability reporting criteria do not address diverse interests; and
- offering further guidance to practitioners serves the public interest by strengthening the integrity and reliability of sustainability assurance engagements.
The AASB has proposed a Canadian amendment related to Indigenous matters in CSSA 5000, General Requirements for Sustainability Assurance Engagements, requiring practitioners to obtain an understanding of the entity’s response to TRC’s Call to Action 92 to identify and assess risks of material misstatement that may be pervasive throughout the sustainability information related to that response.
By incorporating this amendment into CSSA 5000, the AASB believes that Canadian practitioners will be better equipped to provide sustainability assurance reporting that considers Indigenous rights and promotes ethical corporate practices.
Next steps
- Ongoing commitment: The AASB is actively continuing work on the proposed Indigenous amendment to CSSA 5000. This reflects the Board’s dedication to the consideration of Indigenous rights within sustainability assurance engagements and toward meaningful engagement.
- Address implementation challenges: The feedback on the Re-exposure Draft, “Canadian Amendments related to Indigenous Matters in the Canadian Standard on Sustainability Assurance (CSSA) 5000, General Requirements for Sustainability Assurance Engagement,” suggested there are unresolved implementation challenges and a need for additional expertise to support the project moving forward.
- Revisions to the Indigenous amendment:
- The AASB anticipates that revisions to the Indigenous amendment are necessary to address the concerns raised on the Re-exposure Draft.
- Recommendations will be developed in collaboration with the AASB’s Sustainability Assurance Committee, Indigenous parties who expressed interest in the proposals, and assurance practitioners who participated in field-testing the amendment.
- Part of CSSA 5000: Once finalized, the Indigenous amendment will be incorporated into CSSA 5000.
The AASB welcomes opportunities to engage with Indigenous Peoples and those bringing Indigenous perspectives through professional or lived experience. Ongoing dialogue is essential to ensure the amendment is fit for purpose.
Additional information is available on the AASB’s Sustainability Assurance project page.