A meeting was co-hosted by Novo Nordisk and AccountAbility in London on September 26th 2003, with business leaders from leading adopting companies of the AA1000 Assurance Standard. The purpose of the meeting was to share experience and to develop the first of a series of Practitioner Notes to assist in the practical development of the standard both for and by companies and assurance providers. The following Practitioner Notes provide a description and analysis of the experience of adopting companies in applying the AA1000 Assurance Standard.