Sedex Members Ethical Trade Audit (SMETA) Best Practice Guidance

5. TYPES OF AUDIT
There are a range of different types of audits and assessments that may be undertaken to evaluate an
employment site. The use of these will vary depending on factors such as the outcome of risk assessments, a
buying company’s relationship with its suppliers, audit cost and the history of a site’s performance. A buying
company may deploy a number of different methodologies across its supply chain.
SMETA BPG only covers formal social audits. However, buying companies may engage with employment sites
in a variety of other ways to promote improvement, which may include site visits, follow-up assessments,
improvement programmes, workshops, multi-stakeholder projects etc.
Sites of employment register audits on Sedex, thus encouraging them to take ownership of their social
compliance performance.
The AAG have created a number of documents to assist this process of ownership including the ‘Corrective
Action Guidance’ available for members on the member resources of Sedex.
The following criteria can be used to define the nature / type of SMETA audit. Individual supply chains will
decide which type(s) meet their needs.
5.1 Category of Auditor
All social audit types can be uploaded on Sedex.
l First Party: a company that “self-audits” their own employment site using their own audit resource.
l Second Party: an audit or assessment undertaken by a body with a trading relationship with the site
such as a retailer, brand, vendor or agent.
l Third Party: an audit or assessment undertaken by an independent party e.g. an independent
commercial audit company, NGO or trade union. Audits may also be undertaken collectively by a group
of these stakeholders (multistakeholder).
Note: A multistakeholder audit is an audit carried out by a group of stakeholders including NGO’s and / or
unions where the NGO and / or union have been involved in a shared decision making process on inspection
methods.
5.2 Notification of an Audit
Depending on the outcome of risk assessments and / or audit planning, prior notice of the audit may or may
not be given. This results in three possible audit types:
1. Announced: audit date is agreed with or disclosed to the audited site.
2. Semi-announced: audit date is agreed within a time “window”.
3. Unannounced: no prior notice is given.
SMETA Best Practice Guidance (4-Pillar Version 4.0, May 2012)
The use or combination of these audit types will depend upon the particular circumstances within each supply
chain. No firm guidance is given on their selection, however some examples of when they are used are
contained in:
See Appendix A2: “Announced, Semi-announced, and Unannounced Audits”.
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