Abstract
The objectives pursued in this study were twofold firstly, to assess the Sharia Supervisory Boards (SSB) report and its content against the requirements contained in Governance Standard No.1 as issued by AAOIFI, and secondly, to evaluate the nature of the items included within the scope of the Sharia audit. This study followed a qualitative content analysis approach to assess the Sharia assurance disclosures. The researcher collected data directly from the latest annual reports covering 2018 to 2020 financial years as published on the websites of the five banks offering Islamic banking in South Africa. The findings show that the SSB take care with discharging their responsibility concerning their governance role of ensuring Sharia compliance as their reports over the period covered in this study have complied with all of the content elements as required by Governance Standard No.1. In addition, the findings show that the nature of the items included within the scope of the Sharia opinion can be grouped into four categories, namely, 1) compliance with Sharia rules and principles for contracts and investment accounts, 2) impermissible or erroneous transactions, 3) zakah (alms tax) to be discharged and 4) the Sharia governance framework which has been a recent addition in the latest Sharia Report. These findings shed light on the governance role performed by the SSB members in South Africa including the nature of the items included within the scope of the Sharia audit. A number of recommendations have also been provided related to the issuing of an SSB report by all banks offering Islamic banking and providing more information within the existing disclosures to elaborate on the specific Sharia rule or principle used as a framework when providing the Sharia compliance opinion.