External assurance statement and commentary
Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer corporate social responsibility report 06/07 assurance statement
Introduction
Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer (Freshfields) has commissioned The Corporate Citizenship Company to provide it with external assurance and commentary on its Corporate Social Responsibility Report 06/07. Freshfields’ management has prepared the report and is responsible for its contents. Our objectives were to review the report’s content and presentation, to conduct selected checks to underlying corporate records, and to provide this statement for which we have sole responsibility.
The Corporate Citizenship Company is a specialist management consultancy that advises businesses seeking to improve their economic, social and environmental performance around the world. A detailed note describing our relationship with Freshfields and the assurance process we have adopted appears with this Statement. Further information about ourselves, our key personnel and our clients is available on our website (www.corporate-citizenship.com).
Our opinion
In our opinion, the report provides a fair and balanced representation of the progress Freshfields is making in living out its commitments to corporate social responsibility (CSR). Where we believe significant gaps exist in available performance data and stakeholder views on material issues; we identify them in our commentary .
In forming our opinion and making our comments, we have had regard to the principles underlying the international assurance standard AA1000 (www.accountability.org.uk) notably concerning materiality, completeness and responsiveness. We have also had regard to the reporting guidance for content and the principles for defining quality contained in GRI’s G3 sustainability reporting guidelines (www.globalreporting.org).
The Corporate Citizenship Company