THE AUDITOR'S ROLE IN CORPORATE SUSTAINABILITY REPORTING

Abstract

The development of the global economy cannot be achieved in the current context without the pillars of sustainable development. At the corporate level, the commitment for sustainability is increasingly monitored by stakeholders in terms of a company's sustainable economic capacity and also regarding its environmental sustainability. We aim to analyze the role of the auditor in corporate sustainability reporting (CSR) and to design an econometric model of reporting quality based on sustainability reports submitted by Southeast European corporations for period 2002 - 2022. The results of the study will identify the difference between sustainability benchmarks and the direct impact of these pillars on the overall ESG composite scores obtained by reporting firms during the period analyzed. The beliefs of the study highlight the role of the auditor in the non-financial reporting process and the impact of the auditor's opinion on the overall ESG composite scores. The study was performed within the doctoral school of The Bucharest University of Economic Studies.