The AA1000 Assurance Standard (AA1000AS) was launched in 2003 as the world's first sustainability assurance standard. It was developed to ensure the credibility and quality of sustainability performance and reporting and was the result of an extensive, two-year, worldwide consultation involving hundreds of organisations from the professions, the investment community, nongovernmental organisations (NGOs), labour and business.

In 2006, in response to requests for further guidance, AccountAbility published a Guidance Note on the Principles of Materiality, Completeness and Responsiveness as used in AA1000AS. During the development of this Guidance Note it was suggested that we provide examples of how the principles were applied in practice. It was agreed that the Guidance Note was not the right place for these examples. We have therefore developed this User Note to provide examples of the application of the principles in practice.

The nature of learning in the standards field means that the process of providing guidance is ongoing. By continually engaging with AA1000 Assurance Standard users and stakeholders, AccountAbility is able to reflect learning in the form of additional guidance to the standard. AccountAbility invites you to share your AA1000 Assurance Standard experiences with us so that we can continue to improve the AA1000 Series.

The User Note is an opportunity for assurance practitioners and other users of AA1000AS to further explore questions of practice based on the work of leading assurance practitioners, including KPMG Sustainability, Deloitte, Bureau Veritas, the Reassurance Network and Banarra Sustainability Assurance and Advice. Three of the case studies are written from the perspective of the assurance provider while the Reassurance Network-Camelot and the Deloitte-Vodafone cases present both the reporter and assurance practitioner's view of the assurance process.

This User Note is intended for use by Assurance Practitioners as well as by organisations that will have to understand it in order to prepare for assurance.

The AA1000 Assurance Standard is designed to be an assurance standard for reports as well as for the data, systems, processes, organisational conduct and competencies that underlie performance. The AA1000 Assurance Standard and its supporting guidance therefore aim to be applicable within the context of other relevant standards, guidelines and frameworks, including the GRI G3 Reporting framework and the IAASB ISAE 3000 standard.