Latest on AA1000 governance and AA1000 SES (2011)
Published on: May 16, 2011
Mark Line to chair Interim Exec of breakaway AA100 User Group as conflict over AA1000 governance continues and AA1000 SES (2011) remains unpublished
After 18-months’ co-development of the AA1000 Stakeholder Engagement Standard (2011), the final version of the updated standard was expected to be published around March 2011. However, publication has been delayed by conflict over governance arrangements for the AA1000 series of standards, which has been ongoing since late 2010.
In response to these developments and to protect more than 15 years’ collaborative work across the AA1000 series, a group of AA1000 stakeholders has created a hub outside AccountAbility, the organisation behind the AA1000 series, with the aim of protecting the standards.
This AA1000 User Group (AAUG) was launched in January 2011 as a LinkedIn forum for service providers and corporate users of the AA1000 series of standards to exchange best practice and engage on the principles and practice of stakeholder engagement and assurance. The AAUG’s objective is to maintain the robustness and relevance of the standards through a strong public dialogue process akin to that through which the standards were originally developed.
AAUG members recently elected an Interim Executive, with Two Tomorrows executive chairman Mark Line as its chair. The Interim Exec is currently steering member consultation on long-term options for the governance of the AA1000 series of standards, including the roles of AccountAbility and the AAUG itself.
In the short term, AccountAbility is working to rapidly re-establish an Interim Standards Board that, once convened, is likely to prioritise ratifying the final version of AA1000 SES (2011). This final version will be ready for publication as soon as it is ratified. Calls for nominations to AccountAbility’s Interim Standards Board close 16 May 2011.
