APSCA Newsletter – September 2018
September 27, 2018
During September activities focussed on the launch of Part I of the Certified Social Compliance Auditor (CSCA) examination and the re-launch of the Audit Firm Approval Process. The Association’s President & CEO, Rona Starr commented “Implementation of the CSCA examination is a significant milestone for APSCA and critical to enhancing industry credibility. We remain confident APSCA membership and recognition via our CSCA examination program will become a key driver in auditor selection among all users of social compliance audits”
Our sustained auditor enrollment program has successfully increased our auditor base by some 200% since April 2018 with enrollments exceeding 2,850 during the month. Pending the re-launch of our Member Firm Approval process, existing Member Firms are encouraged to enroll their social compliance auditors early. Read more
Auditor Enrollments
APSCA now have over 2850 Auditors who are fully enrolled. We continue to be excited about the growth in our Auditor membership and encourage Member Firms to enrol your social compliance auditors, it is never too late.
We encourage our Member Firms to have their auditor’s subscribe to APSCA’s newsletter to stay up to date here. Further, if you have a friend or colleague that may be interested in APSCA please share this newsletter with them via the link below.
APSCA Member Auditors – Validation of Credentials
APSCA has now released the online function to enable the public to validate an APSCA Auditor’s Membership Number, Auditor Level, Membership Standing and identity via a photograph, by entering the SurnameFamily Name and APSCA Membership Number.
You will find the “APSCA Member Auditors” page here: Member Auditors
This forms a notable resource for audit clientele and will further foster confidence in the credibility of our growing industry.
UPDATE: 2018 Annual General Meeting
APSCA’s 2018 Annual General Meeting (AGM) will be held:
Date: 4th December 2018
Time: 1:00pm – 4:00pm
Venue: Holiday Inn Golden Mile
50 Nathan Road
Tsim Sham Tsui
Hong Kong
The formal attendance registration for this year’s AGM will be available on our website mid-October. All eligible participants will be advised via email.
September Executive Board Update
On 13 September 2018, our Executive Board met in Geneva, Switzerland to optimize our development pathway and determine detailed strategy and budget objectives for 2019 -2021. Emphasis was placed on enhancing legitimacy, sustaining growth and developing industry and organizational accountability while reiterating the overall goal of strengthening the professionalism, consistency and credibility of individuals and organizations performing social compliance audits.
Regarding the immediate future, our focus is on the launch of Part I and Part II of the Certified Social Compliance Auditor examination and the re-launch of the Audit Firm Approval Process. In looking forward to 2019, we are pleased to define our key foundational objectives which focus on the recognition of auditor competencies, with the continued roll-out of the CSCA exam, and membership growth.
Executive Board Meeting Geneva, Switzerland.
Member Firm Approval Process
APSCA has been working for the last few months on enhancing the application process for audit firms wishing to join APSCA and are now in the final stages of the re-launch. This updated approval process will foster industry credibility and position our Members and CSCA’s as the trusted professionals of Social Compliance Auditing. We appreciate this is taking a little bit longer than initially anticipated. However, all firms who have enquired will be notified as soon as it has been finalised and APSCA’s website will be updated.
Industry Happenings
BSR – Gender Equality in Social Auditing Guidance
On Thursday, 20 September, BSR published the Gender Equality in Social Auditing Guidance, outlining why and how gender considerations should be integrated into social auditing methodologies and processes. The Guidance is designed to provide perspectives and recommendations on how to best adapt existing auditing processes so that women’s issues are better surfaced as well as, how to explore alternative worker voice approaches to enhance or complement the process.
The guidance draws on and is a follow-up to BSR’s Gender Equality in Codes of Conduct Guidance, published in 2017.
Please also see the associated blog connecting gender sensitive auditing as a way to prepare for UNGPs gender dimensions!
ELEVATE CSR Asia Summit
CSR Asia, an ELEVATE company, hosted the CSR Asia Summit in Hong Kong on the 18th-19th of September. The summit bought together key stakeholders to share their knowledge and experience with the most effective sustainability practices. The focus of this year’s summit was the application of transparency, integrity and impact and how applying these processes across sustainability initiatives within businesses, communities and supply chains will enable growth and increase performance.
APSCA was excited to participate in the discussion of “Global Trends in Responsible Sourcing 2018”. The panel exchanged views on:
1. Forced Labor: Increased Attention and Legislation
2. Rationalising Industry Initiatives
3. ESG Investments Becoming Mainstream
4. Auditor Quality and Accreditation
5. Technological Innovation and How Predictive Analytics are Reshaping the Future
From Left: Ian Spalding (CEO, ELEVATE), Archana Kotecha (Liberty Global Asia), David Lawrence (Executive Director Aim-Progress), Rona Starr (President & CEO, APSCA).
Photo Credit: ELEVATE.
