Abstract
(Cheng et al., 2015). In France, certain companies are subject by regulation to the implementation of SA inparticular with the transposition of European Directive 2014/95/EU into national law. SA mission is a processby which an independent third-party organization (ITO) assures companies’ nonfinancial information.Although this assignment is mostly performed by professional accountants, other providers can perform thisassignment (Cohen and Simnett, 2015). In this research, the authors are interested in strategies for legitimizingthe SA missions of independent third-party bodies. Assurance providers use their website to promote theirmissions. How do independent third-party bodies legitimize their assurance mission in a regulatory contextrelating to European Directive 2014/95/EU?Design/methodology/approach – The authors carried out a discursive analysis of the promotion of SAmissions on independent third-party body websites. A content analysis was performed on the collectedtextual data.Findings – The results highlight different strategies for promoting the implementation of assurance missionsaimed at legitimizing their new skills. Nevertheless, it appears that the providers make very little reference tothe quality of nonfinancial information as the objective of SA missions.Research limitations/implications – The research made it possible to study the promotion of SA throughthe websites of ITOs. Nevertheless, it would have been interesting to be able to question the ITOs to study theirperceptions on their new SA missions.Practical implications – The research enriches the literature on SA, particularly in a regulatory contextrelating to European Directive 2014/95/EU. It sheds light on the different strategies put in place by theproviders appointed by regulations. From a managerial point of view, the study may allow ITOs to adapt theircommunication to promote extra-financial missions relating to the European Directive and thus to attract newclients. Finally at the institutional and regulatory level, this research highlights the need to put in place a preciseframework relating to extra-financial assurance missions. This may also encourage countries not subject to theverification obligation to introduce such an obligation into their national law.Originality/value – This is the first study to examine the promotion of SA practice by providers. In addition,very few studies have looked at this practice in a regulatory context and in particular within the framework ofthe European directive.