Report assurance

Caja Madrid is convinced that external review of its social responsibility reports provides a valuable endorsement of the accuracy and reliability of their contents and of the social responsibility activities described there.

It is also important that social responsibility compliance be subject to independent analysis and assurance, with stakeholders having full access to the results. There can be no progress in social responsibility without the type of transparent disclosure to stakeholders that enables them to make reliably informed decisions. Otherwise there is no way to distinguish the companies with the greatest commitment to society.

This is why Caja Madrid calls on an independent external entity (Deloitte) to examine all the information provided in our Social Responsibility Report, just as it audits the financial information reported in the Annual Report. The two audits are conducted by different teams to ensure their impartiality.

In an important new development, the 2008 Report has been verified in accordance with the AA1000 standards to assure that Caja Madrid complies with the principles of inclusivity, materiality and responsiveness:

• Inclusivity: all parties that may affect or be affected by the organisation's activity must be considered.
• Materiality: the relevance and significance of an issue for the organisation and its stakeholders must be determined.
• Responsiveness: the organisation’s capacity to offer solutions to stakeholder concerns as they are identified.
  Read more on CSR and Caja Madrid

Caja Madrid has conducted what is known as Type 2 AA1000 sustainability assurance, which involves evaluating "AccountAbility" principles and performance information. The evaluation is designed to provide a moderate level of assurance.

All of this complements the report assurance procedure conducted according to the GRI G3 Guidelines.

Assurance report