Glossary term
Cluster A · A26
Tier 2 · differentiator
Vouching
Definition
Vouching is tracing a figure recorded in your emissions data back to its supporting source document. The assurer selects a reported item and asks to see the invoice, meter reading or statement behind it. Vouching tests whether recorded items are real and correctly measured. It does not test whether anything is missing.
On this page
In practice
Vouching and tracing run in opposite directions and both are needed. Vouching starts from the record and goes to the document, testing existence and accuracy. Tracing starts from the document and goes to the record, testing completeness.
What the assurer does with it
The assurer requests source documents for a sample, agrees quantity, period and entity, and records exceptions. The practical failure is retrieval time: if each document takes a week to find, the engagement lengthens and the fee follows. A source document index maintained during the year turns this from a project into a lookup.
Sources
1
ASSA 5000 General Requirements for Sustainability Assurance Engagements
AUASB
2
Review status
Review required
Last reviewed
15 September 2026
Editorial pass, unsigned
Reviewer required
Registered company auditor
Next scheduled review
1 July 2027
Part of
Cluster A, Assurance, audit evidence and working papers
47 terms on what an assurance provider tests, what they accept as evidence, and what a preparer has to be able to produce.
Related terms
What vouching asks you to produce
The assertion vouching does not test
How the items to vouch are selected
Related questions
What evidence do we need for each emissions number?
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Every reported number needs a source document you did not create for the report, the activity data drawn from it, the emission factor and its published edition, and the calculation joining them. Fleet fuel needs litres from fuel card statements, electricity needs kWh by site from retailer invoices with the matching state factor, and refrigerants need kilograms by gas type from service records.
What will our auditor actually ask for?
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In year one they ask for evidence behind the disclosures that are actually assured: Scope 1 and Scope 2 emissions, your governance disclosures, and the specified strategy paragraphs on climate risks and opportunities. In practice that means source documents, a calculation they can rebuild from those documents, and minutes showing the governance you described actually happened.
Other terms in this cluster
Vouching