Raffles Consulting Services
Reconcile Sustainability Reporting Grant assurance costs with the first ISSB-based report, reporting period, provider scope, payment and claim deliverables.
Sustainability Reporting Grant assurance costs must support the same first ISSB-based sustainability report covered by the application. A separate pre-assurance exercise, an assurance engagement for another period or a broader group review cannot simply be charged to the grant because it concerns sustainability. The report, provider scope, period and invoice need one consistent boundary.
Fix the report and assurance objective
Record the applicant, reporting financial year, included entities, ISSB-based disclosure boundary and expected assurance level. Use the current SRG page for eligible external assurance costs and provider requirements. Keep the first-report conclusion and mandatory-compliance timeline with the file.
Define whether the work is pre-assurance, formal assurance or both. State the subject matter, metrics, locations, evidence period, standard and planned statement. Do not describe a readiness review as a final assurance opinion or assume a broad provider proposal matches the supported deliverable.
Reconcile provider scope and fee lines
Confirm the assurance provider meets the current route, such as an ACRA-registered audit firm or an appropriately accredited testing, inspection and certification firm. Break the fee into planning, testing, site work, report review, statement and optional services. Identify work for another report or period and remove it from the claim schedule.
The official SRG FAQ explains that pre-assurance costs can be claimed only when they prepare for the submitted first ISSB-based report and are submitted with it before the compliance timeline. It also limits qualifying costs to the single report. Keep the dated interpretation used for the application.
Connect assurance evidence to the final claim
Maintain a request list, data owner, sample, finding and correction record. Ensure the final sustainability report, assurance output and public boundary agree. If the reporting boundary changes, document the effect on fee, evidence and grant deliverable before relying on the change.
At claim closeout, match the Letter of Offer, contract, invoice, full payment, first report and assurance statement. Separate unsupported follow-on work and future subscription periods. Preserve management approval and confirm that public claims do not extend beyond the provider’s conclusion.
Turn the decision into a controlled file
Use a dated decision record that identifies the applicant, business need, current official source, chosen route, responsible owner, costs, milestones and evidence. Separate facts already verified from forecasts and assumptions. A catalogue listing, supplier statement, consultant recommendation or portal acknowledgement does not establish approval. The company remains responsible for its declarations and commercial decision.
Give each quotation, contract, invoice, payment and deliverable a stable reference. Preserve earlier versions and explain material changes instead of silently replacing them. Where the authority, tax adviser, auditor or another professional must decide a point, record the open question and obtain the required view. Do not convert uncertainty into a confident eligibility statement.
Review before commitment and again before closeout
Run four reviews: suitability, authority, implementation and closeout. At suitability, test the entity, activity and business outcome. Before commitment, freeze the proposed scope, vendor and financial assumptions. During implementation, compare actual work with approved terms. At closeout, reconcile deliverables, accepted results, invoices, full payment, operating evidence and obligations that continue.
Name the person who may approve each stage and the records that person must see. Procurement should not treat a draft application as permission to contract. A project team should not treat supplier completion as company acceptance. Finance should not treat a submitted claim as cash received. Clear status words prevent accidental commitments and weak reporting.
Handle exceptions without rewriting history
Maintain an exception log for changed facts, delayed milestones, supplier variations, cost movements, missing records and failed tests. State the effect on scope, eligibility, timing and expected value. If an authority decision or formal variation is required, use the published route before relying on the change. Silence and helpdesk receipt are not approval.
If a material defect appears, pause the affected acceptance, filing or claim item. Keep original evidence, assign corrective action and set a review date. Do not backdate records, move costs between categories or adjust a baseline after seeing the result. A candid exception with an owned resolution is more credible than a clean-looking file that cannot explain what happened.
Plan handovers before the original project team disperses. The handover should identify the current version, source locations, system access owner, next review date, open exceptions and any condition that continues after payment or filing. Restrict personal, financial and commercially sensitive records to authorised users, while giving each responsible owner enough information to perform the assigned control. Record the external event that should trigger an earlier review, such as a changed programme page, revised authority letter, supplier failure or material business change.
Verify the final outcome independently
Ask someone who did not prepare the final pack to compare the decision, current official source, approved terms, deliverables, payments and operating evidence. Recalculate totals and sample source records. The reviewer should be able to reproduce the conclusion without relying on the preparer’s memory. Record unresolved points with named owners and dates.
Use the SRG group-boundary guide for the wider decision and keep this article as the narrower operating guide. After submission, preserve the receipt and reconcile questions, adjustments and the final registered or paid outcome. Continue any reporting, retention, asset-use or other condition that survives closeout.
Practical review checklist
- First report fixed
- Provider eligibility checked
- Fee lines separated
- Scope changes recorded
- Claim matched to assurance output
The assurance cost is supportable only when provider, scope, reporting period, evidence, invoice and assurance output all point to the approved first ISSB-based sustainability report.