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ACCA Strategic Professional · Advanced Audit and Assurance (International) · The assurance of sustainability

Halden Assurance is appointed to perform a sustainability assurance engagement under ISSA 5000. The engagement partner proposes to rely on an internal expert employed by the firm to evaluate a complex carbon-offset valuation model. Which statement is most appropriate?

The practitioner may use an expert, but responsibility for the conclusion stays with the practitioner, who must evaluate the expert's competence, capabilities, objectivity and the adequacy of their work. Responsibility is not transferred and the non-financial nature of the subject does not prohibit using experts.

  1. AThe practitioner may use the expert but remains solely responsible for the conclusion and must evaluate the expert's competence, capabilities and objectivity and the adequacy of their workCorrect
  2. BUsing an expert transfers responsibility for the conclusion to the expert, so the report should name the expert as responsible
  3. CAn internal expert never needs to be evaluated because the firm's quality management system covers them fully
  4. DThe practitioner must not use any expert in a sustainability engagement because the subject matter is non-financial

Explanation

The practitioner may use a practitioner's expert but keeps responsibility for the conclusion and must evaluate competence, capabilities, objectivity and the adequacy of the work for the purpose. Responsibility is not transferred, and experts are permitted in sustainability engagements. Firm-level quality management does not remove the need for engagement-level evaluation.

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