Sustainability Assurance Factors and Determinants in ASIA

Abstract

This paper examines the factors and determinants of sustainability assurance (SA) for a sample of firms in Asia in the period of 2012-2016. We find that the quality and quantity of SA reports have made a steady improvement in recent years in Asia with a total of 2,196 assurance reports. We also find that SA factors are associated with both quality and quantity of sustainability reporting (SR) and assurance obtained from Big 4 and some of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) relevant to environmental, social, and governance (ESG) dimension of sustainability performance. Among Asian countries, five that are significantly associated with the quantity and quality of SA are Japan, Singapore, Philippine, South Korea, and Thailand. In addition, five industries that are significantly associated with the quantity and quality of SA are energy, financial, material, healthcare, and telecommunication services.