Deloitte and AuditBoard Team Up to Help Companies Streamline and Enhance the Quality of ESG Program Management and Reporting

LOS ANGELES, Oct. 31, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Deloitte & Touche LLP and AuditBoard today announced an extension of their strategic business alliance that will help companies simplify environmental, social, and governance (ESG) reporting, unify their ESG data, streamline evidence collection, and automate ESG activities to enable greater visibility.

The alliance extension allows companies to address their ESG initiatives by utilizing AuditBoard's innovative cloud-based platform for audit, risk, and compliance management in combination with Deloitte's Sustainability, Climate, and Equity services offering. Deloitte, which provides industry-leading audit, consulting, tax, and advisory services, helps organizations become leaders in the emerging low-carbon economy by embedding sustainability into their operations; meet tax, disclosure, and regulatory requirements; navigate risk; and help accelerate their sustainability, climate, and equity transformations.

Specifically, this extension of the Deloitte-AuditBoard alliance enables companies to streamline and centralize ESG program management and reporting using visual AuditBoard intelligence dashboards housed directly in the platform, view the overall health of their ESG program in real time, and create customized audit-ready reports. Moreover, companies will be able to leverage AuditBoard's materiality assessment builder to help identify and prioritize ESG topics that matter to their stakeholders, and track progress against ESG goals with flexible rating scales.

In addition, ESG metrics can be mapped to standards and frameworks, including The Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (SASB), Task Force on Climate-Related Financial Disclosures (TCFD), and Global Reporting Initiative (GRI), enabling companies to easily identify gaps and overlaps to help improve credibility. Moreover, this extension of the Deloitte-AuditBoard alliance can also help companies improve the quality, timeliness, and availability of ESG data in responding to Rating Agency questionnaires.

"As companies navigate changing stakeholder expectations and a rapidly shifting ESG regulatory landscape, integrating ESG considerations into the company's governance, strategy, risk, and reporting practices is becoming table stakes. Additionally, the role of internal audit and external assurance is increasingly critical to support adherence to strategic priorities and high quality ESG performance reporting," said Kristen Sullivan, Audit & Assurance partner, Deloitte & Touche LLP, and Global Audit & Assurance Climate Services Leader. "The Deloitte-AuditBoard alliance extension will enhance organizations in their ESG initiatives."

"The increasing regulatory and investor focus on ESG risks is creating significant challenges for companies as they look to quickly stand-up audit-ready reporting capabilities," said Tom Schmit, Chief Revenue Officer, AuditBoard. "We're excited to extend the Deloitte-AuditBoard alliance to help joint clients rise to the occasion, whether they're seeking to deploy, operationalize, or advance their ESG programs."

The extension of the Deloitte-AuditBoard alliance was announced in conjunction with AuditBoard's Audit+ Beyond Conference, a premier audit, risk, and security compliance event. Sullivan was a featured panelist in the keynote session, "Bracing for Impact: ESG Strategies for an Era of Accelerating Risk," at Audit+ Beyond. The session focused on helping audit, risk, and compliance teams to address the challenges of identifying and staying ahead of novel ESG risks, introducing new ways of thinking – and new tools and tactics — to meet objectives. Leading voices from a range of industries shared actionable leading practices they've used to develop and execute effective ESG programs in their organizations.

Deloitte and AuditBoard initially formed a strategic alliance in 2021, bringing together AuditBoard's cloud-based, integrated suite of audit, risk, and compliance solutions with Deloitte's controls advisory and Sarbanes-Oxley (SOX) and internal control over financial reporting professional advisory services to provide streamlined risk management, SOX compliance, internal audit, and controls management to clients.

AuditBoard is the leading cloud-based platform transforming audit, risk, and compliance management. More than 35% of the Fortune 500 leverage AuditBoard to move their businesses forward with greater clarity and agility. AuditBoard is top-rated by customers on G2, Capterra, and Gartner Peer Insights, and was recently ranked for the third year in a row as one of the fastest-growing technology companies in North America by Deloitte. To learn more, visit AuditBoard.com.

Deloitte provides industry-leading audit, consulting, tax and advisory services to many of the world's most admired brands, including nearly 90% of the Fortune 500® and more than 7,000 private companies. Our people come together for the greater good and work across the industry sectors that drive and shape today's marketplace — delivering measurable and lasting results that help reinforce public trust in our capital markets, inspire clients to see challenges as opportunities to transform and thrive, and help lead the way toward a stronger economy and a healthier society. Deloitte is proud to be part of the largest global professional services network serving our clients in the markets that are most important to them. Building on more than 175 years of service, our network of member firms spans more than 150 countries and territories. Learn how Deloitte's approximately 415,000 people worldwide connect for impact at www.deloitte.com.

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SOURCE Deloitte