Sedex Members Ethical Trade Audit (SMETA) Best Practice Guidance

A systemic or wilful intent to mislead should be treated seriously and mentioned in the audit report. This is often
listed as an “inability to verify” rather than a written accusation of an attempt to mislead. A more detailed
account can be submitted in a supplementary audit report or alert notification. (Check the requirement with the
auditor requestor).
Notes:
l The auditor should not use “unable to verify” as a reason for not completing the wages and hours analysis,
but rather should complete the table with the information available. At the same time the auditor should
clearly state in the appropriate section of the SMETA report whether inconsistencies were an isolated or
repeated occurrence.
l If an employment site volunteers information about incomplete records, this should be noted. Sedex
members may downgrade to a less serious non-compliance where site management have been open
about issues.
See Appendix A7: “Describing Non-Compliances, Observations and Good Examples” on how to evaluate
and record non-compliances.
7.5 Pre-Closing Meeting
The audit team should meet before the closing meeting to discuss the findings of the audit and identify
inconsistencies, non-compliances, observations, and good practice. The analysis of evidence gathered must be
undertaken before the closing meeting, even if there is a single auditor carrying out the audit.
The audit team should prepare for the closing meeting by reviewing and discussing the evidence presented and
then identifying and agreeing:
l Non-compliances.
l Specific evidence.
l Recommended corrective actions, how these can be verified, and a suggested timeframe for
completion.
l Systematic problems and issues.
l The root cause of problems, where possible.
l Good practice examples.
l Possible Prioritisation of issues.
l Any requests for additional information or evidence.
7.5.1 Grading Non-Compliances
SMETA Best Practice Guidance (4-Pillar Version 4.0, May 2012)
SMETA does not encourage auditors to grade issues. If the audit requestor requires the auditor to grade noncompliances
the audit body should use the audit requestor's grading structure. Guidance to grading can be
found in the “SMETA Guide to Non-Compliances”, on the member resources of Sedex.
The Sedex system also allows all members A / AB / B to allocate grading severities to their own noncompliances
on the system and the system supplies a default grading list, accepted by most Sedex members.
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