The CSEAR Silent and Shadow Reporting Experiment…

Around 10 years ago, CSEAR began work producing silent

and shadow reports for public companies not yet adopting

public social or environmental reporting.

Even as reporting has improved, these approaches remain

useful for auditors to test their conclusions on difficult jobs

. OCTOBER 2013

‘Silent’ reporting is a method of building a

picture of social and environmental performance

on the basis of statements made by the reporting

entity, either within its performance report,

website or media release.

Auditors can use this approach as a form of

analytical review to test the consistency with

reported performance data.

WHAT DOES IT SAY.

OCTOBER 2013

‘Shadow’ reporting is a method of building a picture

of performance in the basis of statements made by

‘others’, beyond the reporting entity. It is noted that

media releases (included within silent reports) may

also have an impact on this report.

This approach offers auditors another reference point,

and also a view of how stakeholders might accept

their audit opinion.

WHAT ELSE DOES IT SAY.

OCTOBER 2013

CSEAR developed the methods as an experiment,

and tested them on several public companies in the

early 2000s.

The approaches are on their website, and remain

useful where other forms of analytical review are

unavailable, or less suitable.

The HSBC silent report even includes a bit on anti-

money laundering.

WHAT ELSE DOES IT SAY.

OCTOBER 2013

• The CSEAR reporting experiment was not continued beyond the first round, but the results are still interesting.

• The experiment was not ‘embraced’ by the subject companies, but then, auditors should not be afraid of techniques that are challenging for auditees.

The comments on these slides are the views of Tim Kirby, Sydney.

You should always read the report itself before putting any money on the line.

WHAT DOES IT MEAN.

Tim Kirby, Sydney CA, CIA, LA-EMS

au.linkedin.com/in/timkirbysydney

OCTOBER 2013