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Glossary:Third-party verification
Third-party reviews check the veracity of both financial and non-financial reports so your readers and benchmarking organizations can trust that your reports are accurate. This additional step can also identify issues in your reporting methodology and underlying data, which can result in substantial improvements to your broader ESG program. Examples of this verification process include Project Canary’s TrustWell process[1] and RMI’s MiQ process[2]. GTI is sponsoring a broad effort to establish gas measurement and verification protocols in a program called Veritas.[3]
Many of the terms are used inconsistently, which can cause confusion. While they all describe validation processes, they differ when it comes to precision and coverage. So let’s first get these definitions straight:
- Assurance: a data check process that requires the same methodologies and standards as financial data and must be performed by an accredited auditor.
- Verification: a data check process used when reviewing non-financial data and collection processes compared against predefined criteria and must be performed by an accredited auditor.
- Alignment: an established methodology (e.g. a rationale for how it was prepared, what was included and excluded, and why these decisions were made) that a report follows.[4]