Who we are
Assurance
Our Corporate Assurance function has accountability and responsibility for providing internal assurance to the board that:
- Rio Tinto's policies, standards and controls as endorsed by the board are adequately designed and effective for their intended purpose; and
- these policies, standards and controls are consistently implemented by all Rio Tinto sites on a timely basis and as designed.
The objective of assurance and verification is to enhance the transparency and accountability of our performance on social and environmental issues.
A key part of the assurance programme is to engage an independent, external provider to prepare a statement that our sustainable development report is fair and accurate based on testing of a selection of material areas. In 2007, Ernst & Young took over from Environmental Resources Management (ERM) to provide both the external assurance and data quality verification of our sustainable development reporting. The change in assurance providers was a result of ERM indicating their desire to provide assistance to Rio Tinto on the design and implementation of programmes and systems, which had the potential to compromise ERM's independence. We believe that it is important to learn from our assurance and verification activities. The recommendations made by ERM in the 2006 Sustainable development review have been assessed, and actions taken during 2007 to address them are described online.
