Auditors Lose Ground on ESG Verification Despite Market Boom

Large companies across the globe increasingly pay to vet at least some of the sustainability figures they publicly report, but auditors have lost ground to other vendors as preferred providers of such testing.

Ninety-five percent of the largest companies in the world reported at least some information about their environmental, social, and governance impact in 2021, up slightly from 92% the previous year, according to a joint report released Monday by the International Federation of Accountants and the Association of International Certified Professional Accountants.

And 64% of companies hired an outside vendor to give assurance on at least some of ...