How does the EU non-financial directive affect the assurance market?

Abstract

The objective of this paper was to determine the impact produced by Directive 2014/95/EU on companies’ decisions regarding the assurance of non-financial information statements and the quality parameters under which this service is contracted. Following an analysis based on institutional theory, the results obtained for the reports issued by an international sample of 600 multinational companies in the period 2011–2018 show that the institutional pressures associated with this Directive contributed to an expansion of the assurance market, although they had only a moderate impact on the contractual conditions of the service. Complementary analyses suggest that the adoption of a limited scope in these assurance services may reflect the conservative outlook of auditors, as providers whose service is favoured in the new scenario. Additionally, we find that the influence of this legal framework is different in the United Kingdom from that in the other European countries. The research contributes to the literature by offering a novel understanding of the behaviour of assurance providers and of the quality of the service obtained.