Internal Auditor's Perceptions of their Role in Environmental, Social and Governance Assurance and Consulting

Internal auditors now have powerful international associations and standards of work performance and serve with a strategic look towards adding value and improving firms’ operations. On the other hand, there is a growing number of incentives that encourages organizations to report environmental, social, and governance performance, and consequently, the information needed to be confirmed within and outside the organization. In this regard, this study examines the internal auditors’ perception of their role in counseling and assuring about the environmental, social and governance issues. The population includes internal auditors of listed firms in Tehran Stock Exchange during Fall 2016. 233 firms with internal auditors were identified, and 141 firms were selected as the sample by using Cochran formula. Finally, after continuous follow-ups, 112 questionnaires were collected from internal auditors of firms listed in the Tehran Stock Exchange. The results indicated that consultative participation and assuring internal auditors in governance, social, and environmental activities is less than average; from the internal auditors’ point of view, governance, social, and environmental issues are important and this importance is increasing; their current competence level in terms of governance, social, and environmental issues is appropriate; their competence to participate in consulting activities and assuring about governance, social, and environmental issues is enough; and internal auditors believe that there are not any guidelines about governance, social, and environmental issues.