ON THE RELATION BETWEEN SUSTAINABILITY REPORT AND ASSURANCE STANDARDS IN BRAZILIAN FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS

This study investigates the adherence to standards for assuring Sustainability Reports of financial Institutions listed on B3 stock market between 2016 and 2018. Drawing on 34 Brazilian institutions, we performed the content analysis of the criteria for sustainability assurance in relation to corporate governance by answering the question of how are the sustainability reports prepared by the financial institutions based on the corporate governance classification standards? We posit and find that among institutions investigated, 60.6% disclosed some type of Sustainability Report and only 50% (10 Institutions) performed sustainability assessment of the released reports. The assurance standards of the audited institutions follow 77.7% of the criteria identified as essential to integrity of such reports. This lens of reporting presents the constructs of probable choices aimed by the approaches among the financial institutions to show credibility and transparency. As a result, present a pattern of behaviours of these organisations towards a sustainability reporting. Overall, findings yield important insights on the criteria of sustainability assurance thus signaling a need for better monitoring scheme for voluntary disclosures.