Basic Primer on Social Audit & Social Auditors

These are concerned with factors like creating a provision of incentives and bonuses for the employees and assisting in promoting and encouraging the amenities of the local community. And promoting types of social audit research and development framework in the techniques used by the company and the industry. The auditor collects data and evidence that they report to the facility and the client, i.e., the brand.

The role of social compliance

Once these facts were released to the public, a social audit began and those affected were able to voice their concerns. In order to fix the faults found during this process, a plan was put into action which includes paying back taxes as well as helping retrain those who have been laid off from the factory. Social audits will give your company visibility and transparency into human rights issues that may harm your workers and damage your brand. An experienced QIMA auditor can provide your team with an unbiased and honest review of your manufacturers‘ practices to protect your company and improve your supply chain down the line.

Attention to social compliance also serves to protect your brand reputation among consumers. By continuously striving to meet and exceed its social responsibility benchmarks, the company can improve its public perception over time. In short, social audits help companies achieve a balance between profits and ethics.

Social audit is mandatory to be conducted as a company might overlook the social responsibility to make profits. Start with compliance management software that centralizes social compliance data and automates admin, and employee-friendly workforce analytics tools to gain clarity across your entire workforce without intruding on privacy. One of the most effective ways to manage social compliance costs is by committing to regular audits.

When teams have clarity into the work getting done, there’s no telling how much more they can accomplish in the same amount of time. Empower your people to go above and beyond with a flexible platform designed to match the needs of your team — and adapt as those needs change. While it may seem that enforcing limits on work weeks would be desirable to employees, this is not always the case.

For internal audits, auditors should be independent from the function being audited if practicable. Auditors should maintain objectivity throughout the audit process to ensure that the audit findings and conclusions are based only on the audit evidence. The best way to ensure a third-party auditor has conducted themselves competently is by checking that they are a member of APSCA (Association of Professional Social Compliance Auditors). APSCA is an industry association that represents the majority of social compliance auditors, setting standards in terms of competencies for both auditors and audit bodies. In the modern era of corporate social responsibility, there is a growing expectation for organisations to provide value to consumers and shareholders as well as meet environmental and social standards. The conditions in which a product is manufactured is of growing concern to consumers and social compliance is now a consideration when it comes to a brand’s integrity and reputation.

2 Difference between Social Audit and Financial Audit

However, some sources refer to a social audit as the internal audit or self-analysis undertaken by a company to understand how the organization itself affects the society in which it operates. Since social audits are voluntary, any release of the findings to the general public is also voluntary. While positive results might be disclosed, negative results might be kept internal and used to identify potential improvements that can make the results of the next social audit more favorable.

#3 Health and Educational Components:

1. Workers’ rights are becoming increasingly important, and customers are reluctant to support companies that don’t address these issues.
2. In conclusion, a Social Audit is an examination of a project’s social impact on the stakeholders affected by it, conducted after the project has been completed.
3. ICAI has developed a Code of conduct for Social Auditors (SAs) based on international and Indian practices.
4. The information provided by social audits allows decision-makers to meet their obligations toward stakeholders so that projects can be run more efficiently, effectively, and ethically.

Therefore, It is important to review the report and physically verify the process of important tasks. However, to make the reports public or not is completely in the hands of the organization. Because of the continuous deteriorating condition of environment and society, the social audit has become essential to curb the antisocial and anti-environment actions of organizations.

As a result, it’s possible that suppliers who try to do the right thing sustain higher costs. As seen in this definition, statutory audits must rely on the financial records (Comptroller) of assets, income, and liabilities. Social Audits may focus on these (and other) aspects but are not limited to them.

While a financial audit focuses on an organization’s financial statements and accounting records, a social audit evaluates an organization’s social and environmental performance. Social audits assess the impact of the organization’s activities on stakeholders, such as employees and the community, while financial audits primarily focus on compliance with accounting standards and regulations. For all the problems that inaugurated social compliance audits 20 years ago, auditing can bring forth positive outcomes, often when facility management has unintentionally violated guidelines. “You can see the excitement in management when you talk about issues and also see happy workers when good plants make improvements.” Starr says. Social compliance and social responsibility may address concerns about labor rights for workers, fair labor laws, harvesting and the use of conflict minerals, and general environmental and sustainability questions.

3.1 Content of Audit Conclusions

Although slight differences may arise with audits, the requirements are generally the same. This checklist, developed from the BSCI audit format, indicates the many types of documentation, equipment, and infrastructure an auditor might look for. “Social compliance has the challenge of people putting their money where their mouth is,” says Starr. She cites a study that involved offering two pairs of the same sock to people, one of which was labelled as sustainably made.