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| Primary purpose Summary Potential benefits Who can use the tool? What resources are needed? Development, ownership and support Social enterprise examples Footnotes AA1000 Assurance Standard The AA1000 Assurance Standard (AA1000 AS) is a process standard for assessing and strengthening the credibility and quality of an organisation’s social, economic and environmental reporting, and related management/ accountability processes, systems and abilities.1 Stakeholder engagement is central to the AA1000 AS.2 Within organisations it is used as a means of driving overall performance through innovation and learning. ‘Quality’ in terms of the AA1000 AS is the degree to which a reporting organisation is open, engaging and responsive to stakeholder perceptions and expectations. AA1000 AS is built on two beliefs. First, that accountability processes need to be tailored to identify, understand and respond to issues that are specific to diverse organisations, sectors, stakeholders and strategies.3 Secondly, that robust, good quality stakeholder engagement processes can powerfully inform internal decision making and enable learning and innovation and thus improved performance. AA1000 AS is a non-prescriptive, free, open-source standard that originated as part of the ‘social accounting and auditing’ movement (see Social Accounting) However, it is now more broadly focused and used for all aspects of sustainability performance including social, environmental and economic. Once an organisation has built a draft of its own report (or social accounts), the AA1000AS is used for ‘assuring’ the information and related systems, processes and competencies that underpin its performance. In practice most organisations approach the assuror well before it finishes the report to allow for enough time for the actual assurance process. As such, it is primarily intended for use by the external individuals or organisation that assure an organisation’s report or social accounts (Assurance Providers) but can guide any organisation when building its accountability processes. Key features of the AA1000 AS:
Since its interception in 1995, AccountAbility has taken an approach to quality focused on the interests of the stakeholder, or those impacted by the organisation. For business, this would include employees and owners, as well as those stakeholders who historically have had little influence over decision-making and yet are impacted, often profoundly, by business activities. The AA1000 Series defined this in terms of the principle of ‘inclusivity’ understood as the right of stakeholders’ interests to be heard, and that organisations account for themselves in relation to these interests. The AA1000 AS distilled this into an ‘accountability commitment’ and three, related, core over-arching principles. Of these the most significant is ‘materiality’, defined in terms of stakeholder interests. In the context of its business model, strategy, and sectoral and geographic setting, the Materiality Principle requires the organisation to include in its report information about its social, environmental and economic performance required by its stakeholders for them to be able to make informed judgements, decisions and actions. It focuses on what is important to stakeholders, as well as what is important to the organisation. Information is ‘material’ if its omission or misrepresentation in the report could influence the judgments, decisions and actions of an organisation’s stakeholders. The AA1000 Completeness Principle requires an organisation to be able to thoroughly identify and understand the material aspects of its sustainability performance. It includes consideration to the subject matter (boundary, scope and period), suitable criteria (use of standards, frameworks, tools and meaningful indicators) and provision of an enabling environment concerning resources and competencies inside and outside the organisation. Its main message can be summarised as, ‘measuring the right things in the right way’. The Responsiveness Principle requires an organisation to provide evidence that it has coherently responded to stakeholders’ concerns, policies and relevant standards – this includes public response but also management of identified material issues i.e. improving performance. What an organisation has decided to do in response to these concerns and interests should be included in its report. The Principle does not require an organisation to agree or comply with all stakeholders’ concerns, but it must respond coherently and consistently to them in providing an adequate response. All AA1000 principles must be applied by any organisation wishing to use the Standard. The manner in which they are applied depends on the level of assurance pursued and the context and resources of the organisation using them. Assurance levels may depend on the extent and quality of a number of issues:5
The level of assurance is expected, although not required, to increase over time as information and underlying systems and processes for accounting for performance mature.
Potential limitations
Leadership For an organisation using the Standard to guide its work and reporting, an individual or team can lead on the work, but the inclusion and commitment of the organisation’s management levels are needed. Stakeholder engagement guided by the Standard will benefit from having all staff involved. Proficiencies or skills It is helpful if someone has had experience in social/economic research methods, particularly concerning stakeholder engagement. Staff time Significant time will be required to compile, analyse and write up information and implement action, although some flexibility exists depending on how much assurance an organisation wishes to give and how it is interpreted. Identifying ‘What assures particular stakeholders’ and ‘What is material to them’ and focusing on those issues before moving into high-level sophisticated processes of measuring and monitoring those issues can save time and money. Courses, support, and information The AA1000 Series consists of the AA1000 Framework plus an evolving programme of specialised modules, including the AA1000 Assurance Standard. A range of materials and forums supports the AA1000 Series:
Auditors (IRCA) launched the first international Certified Sustainability Assurance Practitioner (CSAP) programme, which provides the first multi-stakeholder defined professional competency framework in this area (built on an AA1000 Platform) and supports harmonisation by providing practitioners with a basis for benchmarking and individual certification.
AccountAbility is not a consultancy body, but offers assurance-related services to its members – working in a partnership in those arrangements. The AccountAbility website contains an extensive range of free reports, briefings, case studies and other information on the AA1000 Standard and further accountability research. The Standard is also included in the SIGMA Guidelines toolkit and is designed to complement the Global Reporting Initiative Guidelines The AA1000 Framework also supports and complements the AA1000 Assurance Standard and was developed to improve organisational accountability and sustainability performance by learning through stakeholder engagement. It outlines how to design and manage an organisation’s social and ethical accounting, auditing and reporting processes (see Social Accounting) It can be downloaded free of charge from their website. Development, ownership and support The AA1000 Assurance Standard has been created by the not-for-profit professional institute, AccountAbility (also known as the Institute of Social and Ethical AccountAbility) within a multi-stakeholder process, and is available on a nonproprietary basis for members and non-members. AccountAbility requests only that the knowledge gained through its use be freely shared through AccountAbility to enable it to maintain an on-going, open-source process of learning from experience, revisions and upgrades to the AA1000 Assurance Standard. The AA1000 Series is part of a larger system, resting on a multi-stakeholder governance structure, including AccountAbility members, a technical committee, and council and operating board. Developing the AA1000 Series is an ongoing task, continuously subject to refinement and additions reflecting latest developments and feedback from stakeholders.
Examples from other sectors
1 The AA1000 AS (2003: 5) defines assurance as, “an evaluation method that uses a specified set of principles and standards to assess the quality of a Reporting Organisation’s subject matter, such as reports, an the organisation’s related systems,
processes and competencies that underpin its performance. Assurance includes the communication of the results of this evaluation to provide credibility to the subject matter for its users”. |
