An exploration of internal audit’s corporate social responsibility role – insights from South Africa

Barry Ackers

Social Responsibility Journal, 2016, vol. 12, issue 4, 719-739

Abstract: Purpose - In South Africa, King III requires companies to have their corporate social responsibility (CSR) disclosures independently assured. Within this context, the purpose of this paper is to examine internal audit’s CSR assurance role. Design/methodology/approach - With reference to the International Professional Practices Framework of the Institute of Internal Auditors, the first phase of the study conceptually considers whether internal audit does qualify as an independent CSR assurance provider. Using a content analysis of integrated reports, the second phase examines the extent to which internal audit’s CSR assurance role has been disclosed. The final phase relies on survey responses to understand the emerging trends observed in the second phase. Findings - The study finds that although internal audit does provide independent CSR assurance, this assurance is primarily intended for internal stakeholders to assist in improving the quality of CSR reporting practices. With one notable exception across the study period, the results suggest that any benefits accruing to external stakeholders were not deliberate, but merely incidental. The paper concludes by arguing that although internal audit will continue to incorporate material CSR issues into its mandatory risk-based auditing approach, the results will not necessarily be publicly available. The extent of reliance that external stakeholders can place on company CSR disclosures are therefore not directly influenced by internal audit’s involvement in CSR-related matters. However, by adopting a proactive CSR role, internal audit can assist reporting companies improve their CSR reporting practices. Originality/value - Although CSR assurance has been extensively researched, this is one of the first studies to specifically consider the CSR assurance role of the internal audit activity. Despite its South African orientation, given the emerging nature of the CSR assurance phenomenon, the study findings have global implications.

Keywords: Assurance; Corporate social responsibility (CSR); King III; Internal audit (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2016
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.110 ... d&utm_campaign=repec (text/html)
https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.110 ... d&utm_campaign=repec (application/pdf)
Access to full text is restricted to subscribers

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eme:srjpps:v:12:y:2016:i:4:p:719-739

DOI: 10.1108/SRJ-01-2016-0003

Access Statistics for this article

Social Responsibility Journal is currently edited by Prof David Crowther

More articles in Social Responsibility Journal from Emerald Group Publishing Limited
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Emerald Support ().