APSCA Newsletter November 2021

November 30, 2021

To enhance the professionalism and credibility of the individuals and organizations performing independent social compliance audits
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APSCA Newsletter November 2021

November was an exciting month for APSCA. We were proud to launch our Annual Report on November 4th, celebrating the success of more than 1200 Certified Social Compliance Auditors (CSCAs) at that time and capturing APSCA activities over the last year. The APSCA Annual General Meeting, which ran virtually across two sessions on November 10th and 11th, was attended by more than 500 participants.

November also saw the launch of NEW Digital Membership Cards for all APSCA Member Auditors as part of our continued efforts to maintain the ongoing knowledge base required of social compliance auditors Continuous Professional Development continues to move forward. 

APSCA would also like to take this time to remind Member Auditors and Member Firms about the important announcement regarding the phasing out of the Registered level Auditor (RA) status.


Further highlights are provided below.
 

 



   
APSCA conducted our 6th Annual General Meeting (AGM) over two virtual sessions on November 10th and 11th, 2021. These sessions were the second time a Meeting of Members had been conducted virtually. Registration and attendance levels were the highest ever with over 1000 registrants. The two sessions were attended by over 540 unique attendees from 56 different countries representing a strong mix of Members and Stakeholders. Presentations during the sessions included Governance, Ethics, Continuous Professional Development, Exams and a unique panel discussion (one per session) around Emerging Issues- Legislation & Liability. APSCA would like to thank our panellists for participating, Matthias Thorns, Rachelle Jackson, Collen Theron, Laura Rubbo and David Rutherford -with a special thanks to Jon Drimmer for mediating both panels.

Attendees remained engaged, with more than 75% remaining connected for the full three-hours, responding to polls during the panel sessions and providing more than 160 questions and statements to APSCA. APSCA staff is consolidating these questions which will be circulated to registrants, attendees and posted on our website. Recordings of the sessions will be posted on the APSCA website. APSCA looks forward to a potential in person / hybrid AGM for 2022.

 

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APSCA is happy to welcome Kathy Vestering to our US based team. Based in Kansas, Kathy is responsible for general administrative support including, managing the director inbox and responding to general queries. Kathy’s background in office management and bookkeeping supports her work with our Exam team, managing emails and Part I and II exam bookings. Kathy also works with our Data Team to contribute to ongoing enhancements, supports our continued work with our translators to ensure timely updates to documentation and provides assistance on special projects as requested to support APSCA in achieving our strategic goals.
 

 

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Continous Professional Development  (CPD) UPDATE
 

 

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Digital Membership Cards – Now in BETA testing – Feedback Welcome
APSCA is pleased to announce the Beta testing phase of Digital Membership Cards.
The new cards replace current CSCA cards by creating digital identification for Member Auditors of all levels and statuses.


Updated daily, this easy-to-use solution will make it easier for facilities to verify auditors and for Member Auditors to monitor their level and status.
Membership numbers are issued to an auditor when they initially join APSCA. As soon as a membership number is issued to an auditor, the digital card will automatically generate.
The Digital Membership Cards eliminate the manual labor involved in production and avoid shipping delays experienced with the CSCA card. Anti-fraud measures are in place to prevent the fraudulent production of cards.

The new APSCA Digital Membership Cards offer a clear visual indicator of an auditor’s level and also include a QR code linking to a portal for additional information and, if needed, further verification. 
APSCA is requesting our Member Auditors assistance in testing this new development and would appreciate all APSCA Member Auditors to check out your beta test cards in your Auditor’s APSCA online account (My Account) under the My Profile tab at www.theapsca.org.

Questions and Feedback are welcome –
data.administrator@theapsca.org.
Full rollout is planned for early 2022. APSCA appreciates your engagement and continued support.

 

 

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Building upon the success of the over 1,150 Certified Social Compliance Auditors, the next phase in the journey towards achieving APSCA’s vision and mission is the phasing out of the interim qualification, Registered level Auditor (RA).

Originally, APSCA created the RA Level as a temporary designation to recognize the experience of existing auditors. As the exam program enters its fourth year, APSCA has codified the method of recognizing experience and evaluating proficiency, making the RA level redundant.

During the August Member calls, Executive Board representatives discussed the potential phasing out of the RA level before meeting last week to discuss the transition.

Effective January 1, 2022, there will be no new RA level Auditors.

The last day to submit an audit log to obtain RA level is December 31st, 2021.
All newly enrolled auditors will go through pathway 4 to obtain certification.


 

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APSCA Number Guide, Auditor Handbook and more, 
now available in more languages!



 


For all CSCA Exams (Parts I – III) Auditors must consult with their Member Firm to confirm eligibility to sit each exam. Please ensure you follow the guidance in the Auditor Handbook and notify APSCA prior to enrolling for any exam.
 
Should you have any questions or need clarification on the exam eligibility process, please contact us at
Director@theapsca.org 

CSCA Exams & Languages:

Part I & II are available in ten languages (English, Spanish, Simplified & Traditional Chinese, Italian, Portuguese, Turkish, Bangla, Thai, and Vietnamese). With the assistance of technology, APSCA will soon expand our exams to cover all languages. More information to come shortly.

Part III is available in English, Spanish, Mandarin and Cantonese.  


Please see our website, Resource Library for more information

 

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 REMINDERS – EXAMS 


 

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Don’t see a question/ answer you’re looking for? Contact us at Director@theapsca.org 

 

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Auditor Enrollments
Total Number of Auditors: 4,627 (as of 30 November 2021)

 

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To better serve our Membership and interested parties, we established 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! 

To further enhance this page, we have added:

‘Announcements’
Key messages will be posted to the new ‘announcements’ section for both general and exam related topics and they will be updated on an ongoing basis. 

Policies
APSCA’s latest policies and Guidance Documents are available. 

Visit our website to access the resources.

 

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Our monthly newsletter now reaches over 4,000 subscribers each month!
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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