The COSO Internal Control Framework and Sustainability Reporting

The Benefits of Good Governance and Internal Controls

Shari Littan, JD, CPA

In BriefEven as corporate reporting of sustainability information continues to gain in popularity, the practice still is not standardized, either domestically or globally. While not a sustainability reporting framework per se, The Internal Control—Integrated Framework of the Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission provides a possible roadmap for companies looking to adjust their internal processes to enable useful reporting of sustainability information. The author lays out the benefits of applying the principles of the COSO internal control framework to sustainability reporting, stressing the importance of assembling the right team and giving them the right tools for the job.