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on are still somewhat poor (Lock Lee and Guthrie, 2010; Alwert et al., 2009; EFFAS Commission on Intellectual Capital, 2008). The survey supports the findings in Bismuth and Tojo (2008) that management teams in large listed companies appear reluctant to report on intangible assets by communicating non-financial information regularly.

More than 80 per cent (81.3) of the IRMs relates non-financial information to company's strategy, as it explains how it affects the value-creation process. IRMs further stated that the need to focus more on non-financial information probably would be met, since the management team is getting more aware of the importance to identify and communicate the long-term value drivers present in the value-creation process.

Some IRMs emphasized the necessity of non-financial information to be more properly structured in the annual report. They see a future development towards more mandatory requirements that state which non-financial information should be included and how they should be presented in the annual report. This is a little contradicting to Eccles and Mavrinac (1995), who stated that the management team is the party least interested in mandatory requirements compared to financial analysts and investors.

According ICAEW (2008), because of the nature of non-financial information, assurance practitioners need to be aware of the practical challenges that they may face when performing audit, such as independence considerations, the potential need for specialist, knowledge, identifying suitable criteria, obtaining evidence about qualitative or forward looking information, and understanding the users and their needs. In order to increase reporting and providing assurance on non-financial information, it is crucial to have governance attention at the highest level and management cycle of information.

Assurance in the private sector is rather different to the field in the public sector. For the public sector, non-financial information is defined as all quantitative and qualitative data on the policy pursued and business operations. The data are usually the results of this policy in the form of output or outcome, without a direct link to the financial registration system. However, this definition can be applied to the private sector by replacing the term policy with mission, strategy or corporate objectives (Admiraal, Nivra & Turksema, 2009). According to NIVRA Amsterdam (2008), governors, politicians, controllers and government audit offices have become more interested in performance data in budgets and reports. Therefore, there is a need for more structuring, standardization and guidance as there is not yet a generally accepted system for administering and reporting non-financial information.

Regardless of whether it is private or public sector, relevance is linked to the needs and the level of the user. The governing body and the management with support from the public controller are responsible for the reliability of the information. The question on whether a report meets users' wishes depends on the quality of the information. One of the quality criteria is reliability. This quality can be safeguarded by measures taken in advance and afterwards.

External assurance is not the only party who is responsible for the relevance and reliability of non-financial information reported by the management. Both internal auditor and