Judith Ströhle
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Prof. Dr.
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Ströhle
First name
Judith
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judith.stroehle@unisg.ch
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+41 71 224 7197

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  • Publication
    Old Saddles for New Horses: How Non-Financial Assurance Reinforces Traditional Firm Boundaries
    ( 2022)
    Soonawalla, Kazbi
    ;
    Ströhle, Judith orcid-logo
    In the absence of legally binding frameworks and standards, research has shown that the assurance of non-financial information has developed as an analogy of financial auditing, copying its processes, logics and methods. We study the consequences of this analogy through an in-depth study of hand collected data of FTSE100 sustainability reporting and assurance. We view non-financial assurance statements as discursive tools of boundary work and find that the financial audit logics in non-financial assurance reinforce rather than challenge traditional firm boundaries. We identify three mechanisms of boundary work that are responsible for this: a) stakeholder exclusion due to firm and management centricity, b) issue exclusion (exclusion of certain topics) due to conservatism in practice and measurement, and c) a limited audit scope due to methodological and professional constraints. We argue that this stands in sharp contrast to calls for problem-oriented, impact-focussed and inclusive approaches to sustainability measurement. Non-financial assurance in its current design is therefore not appropriate to give a true and fair view of the types of information needed to reflect the complex, dynamic and interdependent nature of the grand sustainability challenges.
    Type: conference paper
    URI: https://www.alexandria.unisg.ch/handle/20.500.14171/109543