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On
April 14, 2023, we wished Alex
Nasr, our Director of Code and Compliance, well
as he left APSCA to pursue other opportunities, and we thank him
for his efforts to further expand on APSCA’s ethics program and
send our best in his future endeavors.
During
Alex’s tenure at APSCA, he made significant contributions to our
Ethics & Integrity program. He spearheaded initiatives to
improve case processing capacity and timelines, increased data
and information sharing with collaborative programs, and made
numerous policy enhancements. Under Alex’s leadership, the Ethics
team issued several guidance documents, including Guidance on Submitting Reports and Evidence
to the APSCA Ethics Team and updated our Disciplinary Framework and Procedures
to include temporary suspensions and additional requirements for
reinstatement.
We
appreciated Alex’s unwavering commitment to driving ethics and
integrity efforts within APSCA Membership. His contributions will
have a lasting impact on our organization, and we thank him for
his dedication and hard work.
Moving
forward, Emma Youngman, our Compliance Manager, will manage the
department with the support of our Compliance Analyst, Emily
Chen, while we look to onboard a new Director of Compliance.
If
you have any questions, please contact Emma at ethics@theapsca.org.
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We would like to announce a few changes to our
Executive Board representatives. Mark Spears and Anastasia Spathi
will be stepping down from the Executive Board and are set to be
replaced by Craig Moss and Laurent Corbaz. Mark will, however,
remain a part of the Stakeholder Advisory Board. We very much
look forward to welcoming Craig and Laurent onto the Executive
Board where their expertise will be invaluable.
 Mark,
who previously served the Walt Disney Company for nearly thirty
years in several senior business roles, devotes his work to
promoting positive environmental and social change. In his time
at Disney, Mark served as Disney Consumer Products’ inaugural
chief sustainability executive and led Disney’s involvement with
The Sustainability Consortium as its first corporate Lead
Director. Mark also directed Disney’s International Labor
Standards program. Mark’s contribution to and representation of
APSCA’s Executive Board has been hugely appreciated and we would
like to thank him for all his valued efforts.
 Replacing
Mark will be Craig
Moss. Craig is the Executive Vice
President-Measurement of Ethisphere and a leading expert on using
management systems to improve compliance and risk management
performance within companies and across supply chains.
Craig is also the Chair of the Licensing
Executives Society committee that developed an ANSI global
standard for Intellectual Property Protection in the Supply
Chain. He is Director – Content & Certification at the Cyber
Readiness Institute, and Director at the Digital Supply Chain
Institute.
Anastasia Spathi will be
stepping down from the Executive Board and we would like to thank
Anastasia for her contribution to APSCA over the last 2 years,
particularly for her most recent efforts in leading the Exam and
Capacity Working Group. We know she will stay connected with us
through her ongoing work with SGS.
We take this opportunity to welcome Laurent Corbaz
to APSCA’s Executive Board. Laurent is Vice President, Strategic
Planning at SGS and has been with the company for over 16 years,
in a number of senior management roles in both Switzerland and
the United States. Laurent is responsible for the strategic
development and planning within the Knowledge Division covering
audit, certification, training, CSR, supply chain services, risk
management and technical consultancy across multiple
industries. Laurent holds a Master’s degree in Business
Administration from the University of Lausanne,
Switzerland.
Please
join us in thanking Mark and Anastasia for their ongoing support
and welcoming Craig and Laurent – we look forward to utilising
their expertise as we implement our 2030 Strategy.
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In APSCA’s 2022
Annual Meeting of Members and Stakeholders (AMM),
we announced the launch of our 2030 strategy (for the right-click
translatable version, click here). Over the last few
months, we had a working group focus on strategy and funding
required to implement the agreed strategy.
Following Member Firm feedback, which has been consolidated and
considered, a communication to all Members is being finalised
with the Executive Board and will be coming in the following
weeks along with an implementation plan.
APSCA has launched a Part I and II Exam Syllabus. We welcome
your feedback on this document. Over the next few months, you
will also see:
- Draft Agenda for
the Annual Meeting of Members and Stakeholders (AMM) which
will be moderated by a CSCA
- Announcement of
improved business practices for Members with the support of
our new IT provider to expedite the processing of exams and
invoicing
- Training
Partnerships supporting Member Auditors throughout their
APSCA journey (exam preparation, Continuous Professional
Development (CPD) and emerging topics)
- Development of a
job board to connect new Auditors with Member Firms that are
prepared to train them
- Podcast Series
and other communication to be expanded.
To name
a few!
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Sedex Xplore Sustainability Conference
APSCA’s Rona
Starr participated in a breakout session during
day two of the Sedex conference in March 2023, speaking to a
standing-room-only crowd alongside Sedex’s Paul Chalmers and
moderator Fiorela Topciu, Sedex and APSCA presented about
continuous improvements in Social Auditing Quality. Jointly
moving the needle for competence and quality including insights
were shared on the future of the profession.
Pictured (left to right) Fiorela Topciu, Paul
Chalmers, and Rona Starr
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APSCA continues to focus on connecting Member
Auditors with training opportunities that are relevant,
meaningful, and accessible, throughout their journey as an APSCA
Member Auditor.
APSCA Member Auditors may be starting out in their career in
Social Compliance Auditing (building up their audit experience as
they prepare to write their exams), expanding their knowledge
through the rigour of the exam process (focusing and refocusing
their attention to foundational skills and functional knowledge
areas) or maturing their understanding and continuously improving
after achieving their CSCA level.
The profession needs people at all levels of expertise,
experience, and interest to sustainably deliver upon the
requirements of industry and civil society who look to Social
Compliance Audit as a piece of the puzzle to support the
requirements of responsible business.
In 2021 and 2022 APSCA focused on developing training materials
for Member Auditors focusing upon preparing for APSCA Exams, and
later connecting them with available training opportunities which
supported the completion of the first year of mandatory
Continuous Professional Development. 2023 and beyond will see
APSCA working to serve and support Member Auditors wherever they
are in their professional journey to facilitate opportunities for
the community to engage in training and learning opportunities.
APSCA is currently working with several different organizations
to bring training opportunities to Social Compliance Auditors in
2023. In this newsletter, we are happy to share three
different training options from the ITCILO – International
Training Centre of the ILO (International Labour Organization).
The pieces of training below are a mixed offering, the first is
free of charge and suitable for anyone, the subsequent two are
paid trainings which expand understandings on functional areas.
We hope that these are of use to everyone who reads our
newsletter and of particular use to Member Auditors.
We welcome your feedback on training opportunities, please
contact us at cpd@theapsca.org
TRAINING OPPORTUNITIES
Are you interested in learning more about Fair
Recruitment?
Are you aware of ILO GBNFL’s toolkit (self-led
training) on fair recruitment?
This was developed together with the ILO training centre and the
ILO Global Business Network on Forced Labour with financial
support provided by the European Union
https://flbusiness.network/toolkit-fair-recruitment/story.html
The toolkit offers individuals to explore fair recruitment at
their own pace at no cost to expand capacity on this important
topic.
ADDITIONAL TRAINING OPPORTUNITIES
FOR MORE INFORMATION CLICK HERE
The course looks into how companies, development finance
institutions, state-owned enterprises and procurement agencies,
can contribute to the eradication of forced labour in their own
operations and business transactions through responsible business
conduct and effective human rights due diligence (HRDD).
FOR MORE
INFORMATION CLICK HERE
The ILO’s International Labour Standards are a critical component
of corporate social responsibility and human rights due diligence
(HRDD). This course provides participants with the expertise,
tools, and knowledge they need to improve their skills in the
field of labour-related human rights and core elements of
effective HRDD.
 This
course is APSCA CPD Recognized – Course ITC-ILO-001 which covers
32 hours of training (the full training requirement for the
year).
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Members Meeting
ASPCA Members Meeting
(hybrid) was held at the Sedex Office on
Tuesday 21st March 2023. During this meeting, APSCA
Executive Board and Stakeholder Advisory Board Members were able
to share information about the progress of 3 short-term working
groups, which were focused on APSCA Governance, Exams and
Capacity as well as Strategy and Funding. The meeting provided
Member Firms with an opportunity to provide comments &
feedback ahead of the Executive Board meeting held on March 25,
2023.
Member Firm Comment Period –
Governance, Strategy and Funding Proposals
Following the Executive Board Meeting
on 25 March 2023, APSCA launched a 2-week Member Firm Comment
Period, allowing Member Firms to provide feedback on draft
proposals regarding Governance, Strategy and Funding. The draft
proposals were the culmination of work by 2 working groups,
established in December 2022.
The primary proposal of the Exam and Capacity working group was
not put to Member Firm comment. Instead, this proposal was
immediately put into effect by APSCA in an effort to expand
auditor capacity (see below for more details).
2022 Annual Report Recap
APSCA’s 2022 Annual Report, titled “Transforming the Future of Social
Auditing” was released in mid-April.
The report is available in pdf, or viewable on our website (right-click
translatable).
New for
2022 – APSCA’s Annual Report is also available in
Accessible Pdf format!
APSCA is focused on serving the needs of Member
Auditors and Firms
APSCA continues working hard to better serve the
needs of our Member Auditors and Firms. In 2022, some of these
efforts included:
- Conducting the
first hybrid Annual Meeting of Members and Stakeholders
- Providing up to
10 CPD hours for Member Auditors
- External
engagement resulting in feedback on pending legislation
impacting Social Compliance auditing
- Streamlined and
enhanced exam documentation
- Development of
2030 Strategy
- Maintaining
Auditor/Member Firm annual fees at the same level since
2018, while delivering more services
- Connected Members
to job opportunities
- Launching of new
communications channels
APSCA accomplishments – a timeline
Since our founding in 2015, APSCA has continued to
advance the profession of social compliance Auditors, promoting
the use of independent social compliance audits as a tool to
advance workplace conditions globally.
It’s encouraging to see the growth of our profession!
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Unsure about the booking process?
Let’s
review!
The Part III Exam deadline is fast approaching –
make sure you book your exam accordingly!
The deadline to sit the exam is May 30th,
2023 for all languages except English, Chinese (simplified &
traditional), and Spanish, for which the deadline has passed.
Don’t wait to book your exam, book as soon as possible! This
helps us stay organised and ensures a smooth sitting for our Test
Takers.
When booking a Part I, II or III Exam, always consult our ‘How to Book’ documents,
located in the Resource Library under the Exam Guide
tab. These documents will provide a step-by-step outline of how
to book your exams.
Part III
Exams- MUST READ BEFORE SCHEDULING
- Auditors MUST
book via Calendly. DO NOT schedule
with ProctorU
- WHEN
SCHEDULING IN CALENDLY –
YOU MUST USE THE SAME EMAIL ADDRESS AS YOUR PU PROFILE EMAIL. If you use a
different email when scheduling your exam, the exam will not
transfer to your ProctorU account, you will not receive an
invoice and you risk the exam being cancelled.
- DO NOT MAKE
MULTIPLE BOOKINGS! Another very
important point, as a penalty charge of USD250 applies to each additional
booking. Interviewers are redistributed to exams internally
and scheduling multiple exams in an attempt to find a
specific interviewer will
not work.
- FIRMS– please
communicate closely with your Auditors about what language
they wish to sit their Part III Exam in, and whether they
need a translator. Help your Auditors choose so they are
aligned with the ERS
- All rescheduling
or cancellations must be done via Calendly, NOT ProctorU. Changes made
incorrectly may incur a penalty charge of the original
booking fee. The link for cancellations and reschedules can
be found in your Calendly exam confirmation email and
ensure all rescheduling/cancellations occur greater than 30
days from the original booked exam date to avoid a penalty.
 Must Read!
There are updates to Windows requirements for all
exams. ProctorU
will no longer be accepting any versions of Windows that are
earlier than Windows 10 (2015). If your computer has Windows 8
downloaded on it, you will not be able to sit your exam. So be
sure to upgrade as soon as possible!
Preparing for your exams and unsure where to start
your study?
We have plenty of excellent resources available
for Auditors to ensure they are as ready as possible and
encourage all to thoroughly review each available material. The Resource Library is a great
place to start, where you will find Policy & Guidance
Documents, Practice Exams, Exam Guides, and Webinars.
A Practice Scenario is now also available for the Part III Exam!
This fantastic resource is found within the Part III Exam guide,
under Appendix 1. This document is also available in the Resource
Library. We also have a new What
to Expect video for the Part III Exam – watch it here.
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If you haven’t listened to Episode 7
of the APSCA Podcast, click here. In this episode, APSCA Communications
Coordinator, Georgia Sexton, runs through a
series of tips and tricks for the Part III Exam, as
advised by our exam interviewers.
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The Disciplinary Board for Member Auditors
(DBMA) met on March 9, 2023, and heard four cases. The Board
substantiated all four cases and took strict action in line with
the Association’s Code and Standards of Professional Conduct
to ensure the integrity of our Social Compliance audits.
Out
of the four cases, two cases were related to bribery, and one was
related to falsifying an invoice, resulting in Membership
revocation. One Member was suspended for one year for failing to
disclose a conflict of interest.
It
is crucial to maintain objectivity, independence, and integrity
in all audits to ensure that they are fair, accurate, and
reliable. Auditors play a critical role in protecting the rights
of workers, promoting ethical business practices, and ensuring
compliance with local and international laws. APSCA takes all
allegations of misconduct seriously and will thoroughly
investigate any such cases.
It
is also important, that anyone that is aware of actions that may
violate the Code, report the information immediately to the
Member Firm or directly to the APSCA Ethics Team at ethics@theapsca.org.
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Memberships Fees Deadlines
Member Auditors paying their own fees were required to raise
their invoice no later than February 15th, 2023.
Those Auditors who did not raise their invoice before this date
had their Membership Status moved to lapsed
and their Membership Level moved to ASCA
as of Monday, February 20th, 2023.
REMINDER
FOR THOSE PAYING THEIR OWN 2023 MEMBERSHIP FEES!
Member Auditors paying their Membership Fees must ensure they pay
their invoice within the payment terms. Auditors will be moved to
the Membership Status of Lapsed and the Membership Level of ASCA
if the invoice is not paid.
Job
Seekers/Hiring Auditors
 Is your Firm hiring Auditors?
APSCA is happy to share job
listings on our LinkedIn page to help connect Auditors to hiring
Firms across the globe. Whether you are looking to hire and
train, or looking for existing Auditors, we are happy to share
your job listing. Tag us @Association of Professional Social
Compliance Auditors Inc. (APSCA) on LinkedIn, or email us a link
to the job listing at director@theapsca.org
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FAQ UPDATE
 FAQs from the 2022
Annual Updates with live Q&A is available on the APSCA
website. Be sure to check it out under 2022 Annual Updates
in the AGM & Stakeholder Event Archive
To better serve our Membership and interested parties, we have a Resource Library on APSCA’s
website. The library provides a comprehensive directory of member
documents, key dates, exam guides, webinars for exam
preparation and more!
We would welcome your feedback – please forward
your suggestions to: director@theapsca.org
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REPORTING AN INTEGRITY ISSUE
If you wish to report
an action by one of our Members (Firms or Auditors) which may be
considered a violation of APSCA’s Code and Standards of
Professional Conduct, email our Ethics Manager at Ethics@theapsca.org
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Our monthly newsletter now reaches over
4,000 subscribers!
We encourage our Member Firms to have their
auditors subscribe to APSCA’s newsletter to stay up to date
with APSCA Happenings by clicking 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.
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