Sedex Members Ethical Trade Audit (SMETA) Best Practice Guidance

7.1 Opening Meeting
The opening meeting should be held in a language understood by the management and is to ensure that the
employment site management understand the purpose of the Code . It should cover the requirements against
which their employment site is being assessed and it should also include the audit process, timescales, and
activities of the site as well as re-confirm the requests for information.
It should be attended by:
l Senior management.
l Managers who are responsible for key functions e.g. HR and production.
l Trade union or worker representatives (if present at the site).
CHECKLIST - OPENING MEETING
A suggested agenda for the opening meeting is outlined below:
Introduction:
l Introduce the audit team to the employment site’s management and explain the purpose and scope of
the audit, including potential benefits to the employment site.
l Clarify that the purpose of an audit is to evaluate the performance of the site against pre-agreed
standards and to encourage continuous improvement.
l The standard or code against which the audit will be conducted.
l The need for openness and transparency.
l Agree the process for communicating issues during the audit. It is best practice to communicate issues
as they arise to build agreement around findings and corrective actions and to allow management to:
l provide additional evidence where necessary.
l address issues immediately.
l raise questions and address concerns.
l Confirm the confidentiality of the audit and any other recipients of the audit report.
l Review the information provided in the pre-audit employment site profile, including previous noncompliances
and follow-up actions.
l Explain the Sedex process including site registration and upload process (see Section 8.2: “Sedex and
Uploading the Audit”)
l Confirm permission to take photographs.
SMETA Best Practice Guidance (4-Pillar Version 4.0, May 2012)
l Check that all staff are aware of the audit and establish that the relevant Code has been communicated
to them.
l Re-confirm the auditor / audit company’s own Business Practices Policy.
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