Credibility of sustainability reports: The contribution of audit committees
研究了审计委员会特征如何影响企业自愿为可持续发展报告寻求外部鉴证，发现审计委员会的独立性、专业性和监督作用能提升报告可信度，但可持续发展委员会的存在可能对小企业构成负担。
Abstract Concerns about the credibility of sustainability reports can be mitigated through assurance. Although audit committee remit encompasses monitoring of sustainability issues, there are potential complementary and substitution issues between governance mechanisms. This paper explores the relationship between audit committees and sustainability reporting assurance using resource dependency theory. We find audit committee characteristics have an impact, additional to that of the board of directors and the existence of sustainability committees, on voluntary sustainability assurance. Our results also show that audit committee independence is associated with use of a Big Four audit firm for sustainability assurance. A negative association between sustainability committees and assurance, however, indicates assurance could be a burden for small firms. Overall, the findings suggest audit committees add credibility and help improve sustainability reporting through their independence, expertise and oversight.