APPLYING MRP-WSCI FOR PROVINCIAL-LEVEL ASSESSMENT INTO SUSTAINABILITY REPORTING AWARENESS IN TÜRKİYE

Sustainability reporting has become a regulatory necessity under frameworks such as the European Sustainability Reporting Standards and the International Sustainability Standards Board’s global baseline standards. The audit profession has been facing increasing demands to ensure the reliability of environmental, social and governance disclosures. However, the level of readiness of auditors with these expectations is still not evenly distributed across provinces, especially in emerging economies. This study aims to fill an important gap in the literature by systematically evaluating provincial differences in awareness and competence levels related to sustainability reporting among independent auditors in Türkiye. Based on the developments in the field of composite indicators, the multiple reference point based on weak and strong composite indicators was used in the study. Using the survey data obtained from 694 auditors throughout Türkiye, three alternative composite indicators were created to capture provincial differences in a robust way and the sensitivity of these indicators to different aggregation logics were evaluated. Findings reveal that metropolitan provinces such as İstanbul perform significantly better compared to the surrounding provinces, and provincial asymmetries are quite pronounced. These differences indicate that there are serious deficiencies in sustainability literacy and audit readiness in areas outside the core provinces.