Assurance of integrated reports : an exploratory study from Egypt

Abstract EN

The purpose of the study is to investigate the extent of the presentation of integrated reporting as well as the provision of assurance of integrated reports by external auditors in Egypt.

The research issues under study are informed by the stakeholder and institutional perspectives.

Methodologically, we used the questionnaire instrument to collect data from external auditors registered on the Egyptian Financial Regulatory Authority (FRA).

In general, we found a limited provision of integrated reports as well as assurance of this kind of reports by Egyptian public companies.

This was mainly found to be ascribed to the non-obligation of local companies to issue integrated reports and to solicit external auditors to provide assurance of these reports, as well as the lack of professional standards and guidelines that empower accountants and auditors to do so.

The study has implications for local regulatory and business organizations –it directs their attention to the extant gap in the practice of integrated reporting in Egypt, and hence to the actions required by regulatory bodies to reap the awaited benefits of adopting integrated reporting as outlined in the literature.