Business Law, Public Responsibility, and Ethics Commons^™

Are Corporate Codes Of Ethics And Risk Assessment By Internal Auditors Associated With Sustainability Audits By Internal Auditors?, Steven M. Desimone, Mohammad Abdolmohammadi

Economics Department Working Papers

An increasing number of organizations engage in sustainability reporting to the public. However, assurance of this disclosure is relatively new. In this study we investigate corporate codes of ethics and risk assessment by internal auditors as correlates of organizations’ engaging their internal audit functions (IAFs) in sustainability audits. Using data from a large sample of chief audit executives (CAEs) we find significant and positive associations between code of conduct and risk assessment and sustainability audits by IAFs. Also, we find positive and significant association between industry (environmentally sensitive vs. others), CAE experience, and CAE major (accounting vs. others) and sustainability …