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Question 3b
Your firm has also been engaged to perform a separate assurance engagement on Faster Jets Co’s corporate social responsibility (CSR) report. This engagement will be performed by Brown & Co’s specialist social and environmental assurance department and there are no ethical threats created by the provision of this service in addition to the audit. An extract from the draft CSR report is shown below:
| CSR objective | CSR target | Performance in 2014 |
|---|---|---|
| Continue to invest in local communities and contribute to charitable causes | Make direct charitable cash donations to local charities Build relationships with global charities and offer free flights to charitable organisations Develop our Local Learning Initiative and offer free one day education programmes to schools | Donations of $550,000 were made to local charities 800 free flights with a value of $560,000 were provided to charities $750,000 was spent on the Local Learning Initiative and 2,250 children attended education days |
| Reduce environmental impact of operations | Reduce the amount of vehicle fuel used on business travel by our employees | The number of miles travelled in vehicles reduced by 5%, and the amount spent on vehicle fuel reduced by 7% |
Required:
(i) Discuss the difficulties in measuring and reporting on social and environmental performance; and (4 marks)
(ii) Recommend the procedures to be used to gain assurance on the validity of the performance information in Faster Jets Co’s CSR report. (6 marks)