To independently assess the effectiveness and integrity of their Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) initiatives, organizations will be required to expand the current audit scope to include enterprise-wide ESG programs and initiatives.
Ongoing financial and IT audits of an organization's ESG programs will require substantial involvement from the organization’s financial and IT audit teams.
These audits will serve as essential internal control processes aimed at evaluating an organization’s alignment of its ESG strategies with the organization’s mission, strategic goals, and objectives. An audit assessment of an organization’s ESG initiatives helps to identify areas of improvement and work toward greater transparency and accountability in reporting compliance.
By systematically and routinely reviewing and evaluating ESG programs, both accomplishments, and shortcomings, organizations can proactively mitigate risks, enhance stakeholder trust, and drive sustainable value creation, fostering long-term resilience and competitiveness in an ever-evolving global market.
Successfully auditing an organization’s ESG initiatives, requires having a set of audit questions designed to assess the organization’s progress in meeting its ESG goals and compliance requirements.
To that end, I will start the process of developing this audit questionnaire by offering the following….
Environment
Has the organization conducted a climate change risk assessment to ascertain whether its operations could be at risk from current/evolving climate change regulations?
Social
Does the organization have policies in place to ensure the health and safety of consumers?
Governance
By what methods/procedures does the organization disclose the organization’s governance around climate-related risks and opportunities?
I welcome those forum members and your colleagues yet to register, to add to this list.
Additionally, let everyone benefit from your experience by posting your thoughts and ideas regarding the look, feel, composition, and essential content to be included in the first edition of the forthcoming ESG Common Body of KnowledgeTM (CMBOK).
Thank you!