Progress on climate change is meaningless unless it can be measured
In the climate change arena, political debates over things like nuclear power versus natural gas versus wind power will always be more interesting than wrangling over accounting or auditing standards. File Picture: David Creedon
Assurance of the quality of what we use is something we in the Western world take for granted. We rarely question the place of origin of the food we buy as indicated on the package, or challenge if the package contains the amount it says. When we lodge or transfer money, we take it for granted that it has been properly brought to account.
For many people, the whole business of assurance, be it for quantity, quality or accuracy is a deeply uninteresting process. Until, that is, something goes wrong. Breaches of standards usually make for big news. In Germany this week, executives of the financial services provider Wirecard, which failed some years ago, went on trial. As the case developed there were allegations that the independent assurance process carried out by the company auditors on Wirecard’s assets and transactions was not sufficiently robust.
