APSCA, can accommodate exams in languages supported by right click translate technology (92 additional languages).

We have been piloting the use of right click translate technology in the exam process for an extended period of time and would like to remind Member Firms and Member Auditors that this capability is available.
Instructions are available here.

Are you preparing to sit your Part I or Part II exam and looking for some extra resources?
Because practice makes us feel more at ease and empowered to demonstrate our capabilities, we have added to the tools to assist you in putting your best foot forward during the certification exam journey. Part I & Part II Practice Exams are available and can be used to practice the right click translate feature. We encourage you to access this new tool on the APSCA website to familiarize yourself with the style of the exams, along with the type of questions and exercises you’ll encounter.
Please click here to take a look at the Practice Exam.

In 2021 the Ethics Team completed their investigations of the 2020 Exam Misconduct which involved more than 80 Auditors. In addition, the Disciplinary Board for Member Auditors (DBMA) were presented cases throughout the year resulting in 7 Membership revocations and 11 Membership suspensions. In addition, the team opened another 48 cases, with some currently under investigation.

2022 Annual Ethics Report
Every year, Member Firms are required to submit to APSCA an annual report relating to their ethics and integrity programs. To better understand Members’ programs, we ask questions relating to Member Firms’ complaint-handling activities and integrity management as required by sections 5.2.4 and 2.3 of the APSCA Code and Standards of Professional Conduct. This assists APSCA’s Ethics Team in identifying areas of opportunity for both our team and our Members.

Systemic Issue Alerts for Member Firms
In addition to dealing with violations of the APSCA Code and Standards of Professional Conduct, this year the Ethics Team will be increasing efforts to address systemic issues that we identify across the industry. One way we will be doing this is to issue Systemic Issue Alerts to Member Firms. Systemic Issue Alerts will serve as both guidance and as an educational tool for Member Firms to identify issues and enhance the training for their Member Auditors in adhering to the APSCA Code and Standards of Professional Conduct.

In the spirit of continuous improvement, APSCA has been actively working to optimize our business processes and related documentation.
Thus far in 2022, APSCA has released updated consolidated instructions on how to book exams, and separated our exam request process (documents) to better support the expanded language offerings. Please reference our resource library here.

As part of our work supporting the APSCA Governance pillar, we are working through a comprehensive review of all of our documents and process’ in 2022.

Exam Eligibility
For all CSCA Exams (Parts I – III) Auditors must consult with their Member Firm to confirm eligibility to sit each exam and obtain information on the 2022 exam fees. Please follow the guidance in the Auditor Handbook and work with your Member Firm or APSCA prior to scheduling/sitting any exam.

Should you have any questions or require clarification on the exam eligibility process, contact us at Director@theapsca.org

CSCA Exams and Languages:
Parts I & II are available in 10 languages (English, Spanish, Simplified & Traditional Chinese, Italian, Portuguese, Turkish, Bangla, Thai, and Vietnamese).
With the assistance of technology, APSCA has expanded these exams to cover another 92 languages. See below to learn more about this feature!

Part III is available in English, Spanish, Mandarin and Cantonese.
We are in the final stages of testing to provide Part III in all languages with the support of translators.
Please see the Resource Library on our website for more information.

APSCA has partnered with an organization which offers 240 different languages. They have the experience, team and technology to convert the complexities of our language requirements into a powerful asset for APSCA and our Members. We are excited to work together with them to improve the process for our Member Auditors sitting the Part III exam. For more information about our translation partner, please click here.

APSCA, can accommodate exams in languages supported by right click translate technology (92 additional languages).

We have been piloting the use of right click translate technology in the exam process for an extended period of time and would like to remind Member Firms and Member Auditors that this capability is available.
Instructions are available here.

During the 2021 Annual General Meeting, APSCA presented updates on Continuous Professional Development (CPD). We have received a number of questions and would like to take this opportunity to clarify some of the initial information.

Mandatory and non-mandatory CPD
2021 CPD WAS NOT mandatory and will not affect Auditor level certification for 2022.
2022 CPD IS mandatory and may impact Auditor Membership (level and/or status) for 2023. (See the CPD Policy below for more information).

Updated CPD Policy
APSCA updated the CPD policy in December to simplify the process and clarify terminology.
Examples of revised terminology are:
1) better distinguishing mandatory vs. elective topics; and
2) recognized courses vs. independent submissions.

If you are an Auditor, we encourage you to read and become familiar with the updated policy.

Reporting your CPD
We have provided detailed instructions for submitting CPD in Auditor’s APSCA online account (My Account).
Note: APSCA has been working through an issue with the workflow approval of CPD requests in our online system with our IT provider. We are happy to report that the system issue has been resolved and we are working thru the back log, anticipating to have all 2021 requests processed by the end of February. We thank you for your patience.

For more information on the CPD changes and enhancements, visit the CPD section of our website.

Be sure to browse the updated list of recognized trainings. Participation in recognized training can be easily reported by Auditors within the APSCA Online system.

Are You a Training Provider?
We welcome Member Firms, Collaborative Programs Training providers, partners, and affiliates to participate in this initiative by submitting an expression of interest form to have their social compliance auditing-related learning recognized as part of APSCA’s CPD program.

Recognized courses are assigned a specific quantity of CPD hours that Member Auditors can note on their APSCA profile as meeting the annual requirement. Courseware can range from online training to webinars, conferences, workshops and more. You can submit your learning materials for consideration by completing our expression of interest form. This quarter, we will issue further guidance on CPD to help Member Auditors and Member Firms meet this requirement effectively in 2022.

For questions, please contact cpd@theapsca.org.

APSCA has recently launched Digital Membership Cards. The new digital credential improves upon the previously issued CSCA cards by creating a digital identification for Member Auditors of all levels and statuses.

Updated every 24 hours, the digital solution will make it easier for facilities to verify Auditors and for Member Auditors to monitor their level and status.

The Digital Membership Card offers a clear visual indicator of an auditor’s level and includes a QR code linking to our portal to obtain additional information and, if needed, further verification of an APSCA Member Auditor’s status and level.

APSCA is requesting our Member Auditors’ assistance in testing the digital format, and we further ask that all APSCA Member Auditors check your beta test card within your Auditor’s APSCA online account.

We encourage all stakeholders and facility management to request the Digital Membership Card when a Member Auditor(s) arrives on-site to conduct a Social Compliance Audit. This tool should be used to verify the Auditor’s identity, Membership Status and Level by using the QR code and confirming their details in our verification portal.

If at any point you are concerned over the authenticity of the Auditor, please contact the Member Firm directly, or contact APSCA for assistance.

Learn more about the Digital Membership Card today. We welcome your questions and feedback.

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!

The APSCA resource library layout will be changing in the coming months.
Watch this newsletter and our website for more details and changes.

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

Visit our website to access the resources.

CLICK HERE TO SIGN UP

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.

Copyright © 2021 Association of Professional Social Compliance Auditors, All rights reserved.
You are receiving this Newsletter as you subscribed via our website.

Our mailing address is:
Association of Professional Social Compliance Auditors
1747 Pennsylvania Avenue, Suite 1000,
Washington DC 20006

Want to change how you receive these emails?
You can update your preferences or unsubscribe from this list.

APSCA Newsletter December 2021

23/12/2021 - No Comments

To enhance the professionalism and credibility of the individuals and organizations performing independent social compliance audits
View this email in your browser

APSCA Newsletter December 2021

Happy holidays from all of us at APSCA!

We hope that you and yours have a safe and healthy Happy New Year.
2021 was a complex and busy year for our team and we are grateful for your engagement and partnership with us on the continued journey towards achieving our mission to cultivate industry credibility and position our Members and Certified Social Compliance Auditors (CSCA) as the trusted professionals of Social Compliance Auditing.

APSCA staff are taking a pause for the holidays. Our team will be working at limited capacity between December 24th and January 3^rd. We look forward to working with you, refreshed from our break, in 2022.
If you have an urgent issue, please email the director@theapsca.org this email box will be casually monitored during this time.

Reminder: Our study resources for your exams are available in our Resource Library.

Also in this issue:

Reminder to update consent in January for 2022, which will include your preferred exam languages (written and spoken).
AGM Recording and Q&A available on our website
Digital Membership Cards
Exam Deadlines and Language Availability

Information regarding Phasing out of RA (Registered level Auditor)

Further highlights are provided below.

Limited Staffing throughout the Holiday Period

APSCA conducted our 6th Annual General Meeting over two virtual sessions on November 10th and 11th 2021.
Presentations during the sessions included Governance, Ethics, Continuous Professional Development, Exams and a panel discussion on Emerging Issues -Legislation and Liability.
Click here to view the sessions on our website, or visit Our YouTube Channel

Questions and Answers from the sessions are also available here

APSCA has recently launched the Digital Membership Cards.
The new card replaces the previously issued CSCA cards by creating a 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.

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

APSCA would like to encourage interested Stakeholders and Facility Management to request the Digital Membership Cards when a Member Auditor arrives on-site to conduct a Social Compliance Audit. This tool should be used to verify the Auditors identity, Membership Status and Level by using the QR code and confirming their details in our verification portal.

Questions and Feedback are welcome – data.administrator@theapsca.org.

APSCA’s CSCA Exams

For all CSCA Exams (Parts I – III) Auditors must consult with their Member Firm to confirm eligibility to sit each exam and obtain information on the change in exam fees for 2022. 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 has expanded these exams to cover all languages. See below, to find out more about this new feature!

Part III is available in English, Spanish, Mandarin and Cantonese.
We are working with a third party translation provider to finalize expanding our languages – more about this will be available in the new year
Please see our website, Resource Library for more information

Alternate Language Feature

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

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.

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.

APSCA Newsletter November 2021

30/11/2021 - No Comments

To enhance the professionalism and credibility of the individuals and organizations performing independent social compliance audits
View this email in your browser

APSCA Newsletter November 2021

November was an exciting month for APSCA. We were proud to launch our Annual Report on November 4^th, 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 10^th and 11^th, 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.

In this this issue:

AGM Success
Annual Report
Welcome to Kathy Vestering
CPD 2021 & 2022 Requirements
New Digital Membership Card
Phasing out RA
New Webinars, Guidance Documents and Auditor Handbook
Upcoming Exam Deadlines & Reminders
CSCA Exam Snapshot
FAQ – Have a question?
Auditor Enrollments
Resource Library
Subscribe to our Newsletter
FAQs

>> Share with a friend!
>> Contact Us

APSCA conducted our 6^th Annual General Meeting (AGM) over two virtual sessions on November 10^th and 11^th, 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.

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.

Continous Professional Development (CPD) UPDATE

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.

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.

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

REMINDERS – EXAMS

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

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

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.

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.

Copyright © 2021 Association of Professional Social Compliance Auditors, All rights reserved.
You are receiving this Newsletter as you subscribed via our website.

Our mailing address is:
Association of Professional Social Compliance Auditors
1747 Pennsylvania Avenue, Suite 1000,
Washington, Washington DC 20006

Want to change how you receive these emails?
You can update your preferences or unsubscribe from this list.

APSCA Newsletter October 2021

31/10/2021 - No Comments

To enhance the professionalism and credibility of the individuals and organizations performing independent social compliance audits
View this email in your browser

APSCA Newsletter October 2021

BUILDING ON SUCCESS

Are you a Member Auditor looking for APSCA recognized CPD hours?
If you register and attend our upcoming Annual General Meeting and Stakeholder Event, you will be eligible to receive a 1-hour CPD credit! There will be topics on Exams, Continued Professional Development and Ethics.

Not a Member Auditor?
You’re also welcome! This year’s AGM will cover APSCA’s achievement during 2021 and our goals for 2022. You will have the opportunity to ask our panellists questions, as they discuss the state of the Social Compliance Industry and the emerging issues within.

In this month’s newsletter, we also introduce Webinars for Part II and III in our 6 new languages, bid farewell to an APSCA team member and welcome a new Executive Board Member.

Further highlights are provided below.

In this this issue:

Executive Board Meeting
Annual General Meeting – Dates
Looking for CPD Credit?
Farewell Shannon
New Webinars, Guidance Documents and Auditor Handbook
APSCA’s CSCA Exams
Disciplinary Board for Member Auditors
Upcoming Deadlines & Reminders
CSCA Exam Snapshot
FAQ – Have a question?
Auditor Enrollments
Resource Library
Subscribe to our Newsletter
FAQs

>> Share with a friend!
>> Contact Us

This month, for the first time in almost 2 years, the Executive Board held a hybrid meeting. We had six of the ten Executive Board Members able to meet in person, with the other four joining virtually. The Board met over two days to discuss APSCA’s strategy, 2022 goals and the ongoing journey towards achieving our Mission within the industry.

We are also pleased to announce Laura Rubbo as our newest addition to the Board and extend our warmest welcome. Laura has been on our Stakeholder Board since APSCA began in 2015, and we are pleased to have her hold the Brand/Retailer seat at the Executive Board.

See our website to learn more about our Executive Board Members.

Sitting Left to Right – Greg Gardner, Rona Starr, Laura Rubbo
Standing left to right – Randy Rankin, Rajan Kamalanathan, Avedis Seferian
On Screen- Top Row Justin Bettey, Mark Spears | Bottom Row- Frank Dorssers, Anastasia Spathi

REGISTER NOW to join our Annual General Meeting & Stakeholder Event 2021

Looking for CPD Credit?
Register and attend APSCA’s Annual General Meeting!

APSCA Member Auditors at the RA/CSCA level are required to complete a minimum of 48 hours of CPD per calendar year. The details are outlined in the CPD policy.

APSCA is also announcing that Auditors who register and attend this year’s online Annual General Meeting & Stakeholder Event will be eligible for 1 CPD Credit Hour. See our website for more information, or click here to REGISTER NOW!

If you’re an Audit Firm or Training Provider looking to submit your courses to APSCA for review and pre-recognition, please submit an Expression of Interest Form.

Visit our website to follow the latest CPD developments.

Any questions, please contact Director@theapsca.org

We regret to inform our readers this month, that Shannon McNulty, who has been with us since April 2020, has decided to move on from APSCA, with her last day being on October 29, 2021. Many of you would have worked with Shannon when scheduling a Part III exam, Continuous Professional Development (CPD) or liaising through the Director email. Shannon has worked hard to provide support to APSCA’s Members and has been the driving force behind the integration of CPD into our data systems. We would like to thank Shannon and wish her all the best in her future endeavours.

APSCA Number Guide, Part I and Part II and III webinars –
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

APSCA’s Disciplinary Board for Member Auditors (DBMA) was held, on October 22, 2021. The Board reviewed four cases, with allegations including fraudulent audit reporting, bribery and filing false expense claims. The Board substantiated all four cases, issuing three Membership Revocations and a Six-Month Suspension.

APSCA’s Disciplinary Board is an integral part of APSCA’s Ethics & Integrity Program. Its effective functioning brings greater credibility to APSCA and its certification program.

REMINDERS – EXAMS

CSCA – Year by Year Pass Results

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

Auditor Enrollments
Total Number of Auditors: 4,567 (as of 29 October 2021)

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.

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.

FAQs
Check out APSCA’s FAQ page – it has been recently updated.
Don’t see a question / answer you’re looking for? Contact us at d irector@theapsca.org.

Copyright © 2021 Association of Professional Social Compliance Auditors, All rights reserved.
You are receiving this Newsletter as you subscribed via our website.

Our mailing address is:
Association of Professional Social Compliance Auditors
1747 Pennsylvania Avenue, Suite 1000,
Washington, Washington DC 20006

Want to change how you receive these emails?
You can update your preferences or unsubscribe from this list.

APSCA Newsletter September 2021

30/09/2021 - No Comments

To enhance the professionalism and credibility of the individuals and organizations performing independent social compliance audits
View this email in your browser

APSCA Newsletter September 2021

Thank you to all who responded to our recent communications survey. Below we share the results and what we’re doing to enhance our communications. Great to hear that 87% of those responding found this newsletter to be their go-to tool to learn about APSCA and our services

Globally, we’re working to make more exam preparation material including, study guides available in different languages. Below you’ll see a handy chart showing our progress to serve our diverse audience.

Also in this issue:

Meet our new Membership Manager, Andrea Gilders.
You’ll read an update on Continuous Professional Development (CPD).
We say goodbye to a legend in our vocation.
And mark your calendar for the APSCA Annual General Meeting (AGM).

Thank you for your support of APSCA!

Further highlights are provided below.

We are pleased to announce that Andrea Gilders
commenced as our Membership Manager this month.

Andrea’s background includes more than 20 years of supply chain management experience in the electronics manufacturing industry. A lifelong technology enthusiast, Andrea’s roles have included process and tools development, corporate governance, internal audit, vendor audit, operational supply chain, extensive supplier management, contracting and social and environmental compliance.

She has a Bachelor of Arts (Psychology) from Queens University in Canada and is currently pursuing a graduate certificate in Technical Writing from Algonquin College. Andrea is based in Peterborough, Ontario, Canada and speaks English and French.

We are excited to have Andrea on board to continue driving our member services and communications.

Webinars and Guidance Documents for Part I exam in 6 new languages.

APSCA Member Auditors at the RA/CSCA level are required to complete a minimum of 48 hours of CPD per calendar year, including mandatory training as outlined by APSCA. The details are outlined in the CPD policy.

To support Member Auditors in completing their CPD, APSCA has been working to add courses to our data system. These fall into two categories:

External (open to anyone)
Internal (open to auditor associated with the specific firm offering the course)

There are over 30 pre-recognized courses.

External: 14
Internal: 19

Coming Soon – Ability to upload courses, Member Auditors have participated in, directly to their profile within the APSCA data system.

Visit our website to follow the latest CPD developments.

Audit firms and Training Providers may submit courses to APSCA for review and pre-recognition using the Expression of Interest Form.

Any questions, please contact Director@theapsca.org

As a member organization, we are here to serve you. That means listening to your needs and, where possible, implementing your ideas.

We recently sent a survey out to our Members to better understand how they want to hear from us and improve our communications to our Members. We had a terrific response, with nearly 400 people completing the survey and 80% of respondents being APSCA Member Auditors. Thank you!

We want to share what we heard from the survey results with you as we prepare to refine our communications channels to meet your needs.

When it comes to APSCA communications tactics, the survey found that 87% of respondents found this newsletter to be a regular source of information. Not surprisingly, our website also scored favourably as a tool to stay informed about APSCA happenings. The most popular links on the site are the newsletter, Resource Library, Member Firm and Auditor pages, as well as the FAQ section.

While the survey focused on our communications tools, results captured comments about communications related to the exam and other specific issues. Areas of opportunity included:

Clearer communication about deadlines, guidelines, and exam expectations.
More materials for languages other than English.
More clarity on how exam scores are calculated.
The ability to see which questions were incorrect and other feedback.

In the coming weeks those sitting Part II will see enhancements to the feedback received in the exam report and we will be adding this to the Part III report in due course.
APSCA aims to increase the value and effectiveness of independent social compliance audits by enhancing the professionalism and credibility of individuals and organizations performing them. Communicating to you and others is an important way for us to accomplish our Mission.

Thank you for helping us improve and serve you better. Be sure to look out for future updates on how we’re using your feedback to improve APSCA.

To find out more of the survey results, including virtual events, frequency and variety of our communications, click this link!

The social compliance world is mourning the passing of John Ruggie, who led the development of the UN Guiding Principles of Business and Human Rights. The Guiding Principles launched ten years ago and fundamentally enhanced the way many view the social compliance industry.

“Mr. Ruggie and his contributions have left an indelible mark and will be missed but never forgotten,” says Rona Starr, president and CEO of APSCA.

Ruggie was the Berthold Beitz Professor in Human Rights and International Affairs at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government and an affiliated professor in International Legal Studies at Harvard Law.
Trained as a political scientist, he made significant intellectual contributions to the study of international relations, focusing on the impact of economic and other forms of globalization on global rulemaking.

From 1997-2001, Ruggie served as United Nations Assistant Secretary-General for Strategic Planning, a post created specifically for him by then Secretary-General Kofi Annan. His areas of responsibility included assisting the Secretary-General in establishing and overseeing the UN Global Compact, now the world’s largest corporate citizenship initiative, and proposing and gaining General Assembly approval for the Millennium Development Goals. Ruggie broadly contributed to the effort on institutional reform and renewal for which Annan and the United Nations were awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2001.

In 2005, Annan appointed Ruggie as the UN Secretary-General’s Special Representative for Business and Human Rights, tasked with proposing measures to strengthen the human rights performance of the global business sector. In June 2011, the UN Human Rights Council, in an unprecedented step, unanimously endorsed the “Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights” that Ruggie and his team developed through extensive consultations, pilot projects and research.

Core elements of the Guiding Principles have been adopted by other international standard-setting bodies, national governments, businesses and more.

John Ruggie will be missed; however through his efforts, there are many who will continue his work long into the future.

This year’s AGM will be held virtually over two days, to ensure the event is accessible to all time zones. Meeting 1: November 10, 2021 – 7 pm (EST) Meeting 2: November 11, 2021 – 8 am (EST) The agenda and registration link will be communicated shortly. As part of the registration process we will be looking to hear from you as to what topics you would like to hear. In addition to the standing governance issues, we will hold breakout sessions on Ethics, Exam, CPD and Emerging Issues. More about the agenda to follow – we look forward to your participation, all are welcome.

We have listened to feedback, and APSCA are taking their Member Auditor Card digital! We will no longer be sending out hard copies of the Card, once auditors have successfully completed the CSCA Part III exam. Instead, everyone will have a card which will update daily with Auditor Level and Status.

Within the next few weeks, ALL Member Auditors will be able to access their card from their knack profile, regardless of their Level and Status.

These digital cards can be used to verify APSCA Member Auditors at any Social Compliance Audit being conducted on-site, on behalf of a Member Firm. Along with several security features, the digital card will have a QR Code that enables the factory to confirm the Member Auditor and their details in our existing APSCA verification portal via our website (this has not changed).

This means no more waiting for the card to arrive in the mail, it will be available within 24 hours of an Auditors level and/or status changing and can be accessed with any smart-phone.

Our team is currently in the testing phase, and this new feature should be available in the coming weeks!

REMINDERS – EXAMS

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, Simplified & Traditional Chinese, Italian, Portuguese, Turkish, Bangla, Spanish, Thai and Vietnamese).
Part III is available in English, Spanish, Mandarin and Cantonese.

See our website, Resource Library for more information.

Auditor Enrollments
Total Number of Auditors: 4,499 (as of 29 September 2021)

Our total number of CSCA continue to grow with the Chinese language deadline passing and the looming deadline for those auditor advanced in either Spanish or English sitting Part III to sit no later than the end of October.

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.

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.

FAQs
Check out APSCA’s FAQ page – it has been recently updated.
Don’t see a question / answer you’re looking for? Contact us at d irector@theapsca.org.

APSCA Newsletter August 2021

31/08/2021 - No Comments

APSCA Newsletter August 2021

The last two years has posed many challenges impacting us all. However APSCA and our Members have managed to continue striving further towards achieving APSCAs Mission and are excited to share news and take a moment to celebrate a Milestone in our progress during these difficult times.

We have officially reached 1000 CSCAs, an incredible milestone made possible by our Member’s determination and commitment. Congratulations to each of you!

APSCA also announces that our wonderful Member Services Manager is leaving us today. We celebrate and thank Kelly-Jo for her outstanding accomplishments throughout her time at APSCA. Her contributions, and leadership within the APSCA team will be sorely missed.

We announce a partnership between SLCP and APSCA, provide key dates for upcoming exams, and share information regarding the new languages now available.

Further highlights are provided below.

As at 30 August 2021, that’s how many of our APSCA Member Auditors have obtained the status of Certified Social Compliance Auditors (CSCA).

The CSCA status – and the achievement it stands for – is part of APSCA’s mission to enhance the credibility, consistency and professionalism of Member Firms and CSCAs to be the trusted professionals in social compliance auditing.

This milestone is one we can all be proud of – accomplished Members taking the initiative to further their careers and enhance the profession. On behalf of everyone at APSCA, congratulations to our 1000 CSCAs!

It is with deep regret that APSCA announces the resignation of our much-valued Member Services Manager Kelly- Jo Potts. Kelly-Jo has been with the APSCA team for nearly three years, and her outstanding contribution to the rapid growth of our organisation has not gone unnoticed. Kelly-Jo has been the driving force behind revamping our overall communication which included our Member Happenings, Website, Resource Library, introduction of our YouTube channel, and social media. Behind the scenes, she has been at the forefront of renovating our data systems and ensuring our team has the tools and technology to work efficiently and effectively for our Members in addition to the execution of the enhanced Member Firm application process, to name a few.

Kelly-Jo’s hard work, empathy and professionalism will be greatly missed, as well as her smiling face and can-do attitude. Thank you, Kelly-Jo, we wish you nothing but the best for your next adventure!

We are looking forward to announcing our new Member Services Manager in the coming weeks.
They will have some big shoes to fill! In the meantime, if you have any questions or would ordinarily emails Kelly-Jo, please email director@theapsca.org for support.

Webinars, Guidance Documents and Auditor Handbook for Part I Exam
You can now view as an element of your Part I exam preparation, Webinars & FAQ’s, Guidance Document and Auditor Handbook in the following languages:

The Due Date for sitting Part I of the CSCA exam in 6 languages, is 28 February 2022.

Reminder: APSCA’s Auditor Handbook is not publicly available or posted on the website. Member Auditors are advised to consult with their Member Firm to obtain a copy of the latest version.

IMPORTANT: Auditors are advised only to sit exams in a language they are ‘advanced’ in. If the exam is not available in your ‘advanced’ language we suggest that Member Auditors postpone sitting exams until available in a language, they are advanced or comfortable testing in.

Part II Exam in 6 new languages and Guidance Documents
The 6 new languages of Bangla, Portuguese, Turkish, Italian, Vietnamese and Thai are available for booking via ProctorU. If you already have a Part II booked and you would like to sit in one of these languages, please notify the Exam Team (exam@theapsca.org) who can adjust your current booking.

You can now find the Part II Exam Guides in the APSCA Resource Library for Bangla, Portuguese, Italian and Turkish (with Thai and Vietnamese coming soon). Webinars for these languages are coming soon.

Part II exam deadline for these 6 languages is October 2022 or 3 months after being notified of passing Part I, whichever is the latest.

August sees us welcome 2 new Members to APSCA’s Stakeholder Board
Genevieve Taft-Vazquez and Linda Kromjong.

Genevieve Taft-Vazquez is a Global Director in the Human Rights Dept. at The Coca-Cola Company. Genevieve’s role is focused on providing strategy, governance and policy oversight and support to the global team and global operations. She has spent much of her career working in the area of corporate sustainability, responsible sourcing and the intersection between business and human rights from a range of perspectives

________________________

Linda Kromjong is Global Labor & Human Rights Director at Samsung Electronics. In this role she focusses on strengthening the company’s relationships with key international policymakers and opinion formers and supporting Human Resources and other relevant business departments in driving corporate and supply chain improvements.

________________________

Read more about Genevieve Taft-Vazquez and Linda Kromjong here.

Expression of Interest – Continuous Professional Development Trainings / Courses:

APSCA strives to support our Member Auditors and enhance auditor competencies through APSCA’S Continuous Professional Development (CPD) policy. We welcome Member Firms, partners, and affiliates to participate in this initiative by submitting an expression of interest to have their social compliance auditing-related training courses recognized as part of APSCA’s CPD program. Recognized courses will be given a number of CPD hours which Member Auditors can note on their APSCA profile as meeting the annual requirement. Recognized courses can range from online courses to webinars, conferences, and workshops, etc.

You can submit your training or course materials for consideration by completing our expression of interest form here.

Any questions, please contact Director@theapsca.org

NOW AVAILABLE FOR VIEWING
Guidance 1: Audit Effectiveness and Auditor Safety

APSCA’s guidance on use of subcontractors or partner organizations.
Visit APSCA’s Resource Library page for a copy of the PPT presentation including notes.

www.theAPSCA.org

SLCP and APSCA Partnership Announcement

APSCA and Social & Labor Convergence Program (SLCP) are pleased to announce our formal collaboration. Our collaboration furthers our data integrity goals as both organizations have a shared vision to enhance the credibility of social compliance audit organizations and reliability of social audit data.

SLCP and APSCA have been a consistent partner over the last 5 years and have been aligning our criteria to monitor and improve the performance of SLCP Verifiers and Verifier Bodies. Under this collaboration agreement, both organizations have now mutually agreed to share alerts and integrity investigations proactively and systematically within the framework of our consent given by Members. APSCA and SLCP will also continue to seek further avenues for engagement that will support our joint vision.

Thank you, Sophia Rubbo!

APSCA would like to farewell and wish all the best to our summer intern Sophia Rubbo. Sophia has been working closely with our Certification Coordinator on driving our Continuous Professional Development (CPD) efforts (visit APSCA’s Resource Library) and helping the team on a few other projects over the last couple of months. She’s now off to start her Sophomore year of college at George Washington University!

We thank her for the work she completed over the last few months and hope to see her back for a few more projects in the near future. In the meantime, we wish her all the best in her studies and future career.

We are pleased to congratulate 3 Member Firms on acheving full APSCA Membership Status DNV, IBL Africa (PTY) Ltd, and Key Traceability LTD. We want to thank their commitment to the realization of APSCA’s mission “To enhance the Professionalism and Credibility of individuals and organizations performing independent social compliance audits”.

For information on Firm Membership definitions and how your Firm can commence the application process, please visit our website.

Definition / reference of the terms noted above are available on our APSCA Member Auditors page.

REMINDERS – EXAMS

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, Simplified & Traditional Chinese, Italian, Portuguese, Turkish, Bangla, Spanish, Thai and Vietnamese).
Part III is available in English, Spanish, Mandarin and Cantonese.

Please see our website, Resource Library to assist with your preparation and for more information.

Auditor Enrollments

As of August 30, 2021 total enrolled Auditors who are in good standing, exceeded 4,400 with a summary by Auditor level provided below.

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.

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.

FAQs
Check out APSCA’s FAQ page – it has been recently updated.
Don’t see a question / answer you’re looking for? Contact us at d irector@theapsca.org.

Connect with APSCA LinkedIn

Connect with APSCA Twitter

YouTube

Visit our Website

Share with my colleagues!

APSCA Newsletter July 2021

29/07/2021 - No Comments

APSCA Newsletter July 2021

All of us are continuing to adapt to life and business with a pandemic which continues to adjust our day to day and results in one human value, communications, being more important than ever. That’s why APSCA encourages you to participate in our communications survey. Your support will enable us to deliver to you news and information which is valuable, timely and convenient all year long. If you haven’t already, please take a moment to complete the survey

Welcome to our newest team member, Alex Nasr, who is our Director of Code and Compliance who will continue to grow our ethics and integrity efforts.

As our global outreach continues, we’re please to introduce our Auditor Handbook in two additional languages.

Further highlights are provided below.

As APSCA works to continuously improve our way of communicating with our 56 Member Firms, over 4000 Member Auditors and numerous Stakeholders, who operate in more than 90 countries, we have developed a survey to enable us to hear from you as to how we can better communicate.

We welcome your input however also appreciate hearing anything additional we may have not asked but you would like us to know.

Click and view below.
It only takes a few minutes!
Thank you! – APSCA Team

We are pleased to announce that Alex Nasr commenced as Director of Code and Compliance on 26 July.

Alex is an investigations and research professional with a focus in recent years on fraud and compliance issues. Alex most recently was director of the investigations practice at investigations and diligence firm Blackpeak. He has been living and working in Hong Kong/China since 2005.

We are excited to have Alex join us and drive the leadership of APSCA’s Ethics and Integrity efforts.

We also would like to announce the promotion of Emma Youngman, who is now our Data & Compliance Co-ordinator. Emma has played a couple of roles with APSCA over the last few years, starting off as an Intern for APSCA for one semester as part of her International Business degree. She joined us part-time moving to full-time during 2020 in the role of Data Administrator.

Emma has been covering the Code and Compliance role for the last two months and will continue to support Alex with the Ethics & Integrity function while also completing her Master of Ethics.

Welcome Alex and Congratulations to Emma!

Please report issues to ethics@theapsca.org

Expression of Interest – Continuous Professional Development Trainings / Courses:

APSCA strives to support our Member Auditors and enhance auditor competencies through APSCA’S Continuous Professional Development (CPD) policy. We welcome Member Firms, partners, and affiliates to participate in this initiative by submitting an expression of interest to have their social compliance auditing-related training courses recognized as part of APSCA’s CPD program. Recognized courses will be given a number of CPD hours which Member Auditors can note on their APSCA profile as meeting the annual requirement. Recognized courses can range from online courses to webinars, conferences, and workshops, etc.

You can submit your training or course materials for consideration by completing our expression of interest form here.

Any questions, please contact Director@theapsca.org

Auditor Handbook Now Available in Portuguese and Turkish

APSCA’s Auditor Handbook is also available in English, Spanish, Chinese (Simplified & Traditional), Italian and now Portuguese and Turkish, (with Bangla, Vietnamese and Thai to come soon).

Reminder: APSCA’s Auditor Handbook is not publicly available or posted on the website. Member Auditors are advised to consult with their Member Firm for a copy of the latest version.

NOW AVAILABLE FOR VIEWING
Guidance 2: Use of Subcontractors and Partner Organizations

APSCA’s guidance on use of subcontractors or partner organizations.
Visit APSCA’s Resource Library page for a copy of the PPT presentation including notes.

www.theAPSCA.org

REMINDERS – EXAMS

No description available.

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 is available available in ten languages (English, Spanish, Simplified & Traditional Chinese, Italian, Portuguese, Turkish, Bangla, Thai, and Vietnamese).
Part II is available in four languages (English, Spanish, Simplified & Traditional Chinese), with the additional six languages coming soon.
Part III is available in English, Spanish, Mandarin and Cantonese.

Please see our website, Resource Library to assist with your preparation and for more information.

Auditor Enrollments

As of July 27, 2021 total enrolled Auditors exceeded 4,300 with a summary by Auditor level provided below.

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.

Document Translations
Further to our existing member documents, available in English, Spanish, and Chinese (Simplified & Traditional), APSCA continues to translate member documents in additional languages to better serve our global membership and community. Additional updates will be provided in due course though we encourage you to regularly review the Resource Page to see the latest documents and translations as they are released.

Visit our website to access the resources.

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 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.

CLICK HERE TO SIGN-UP

FAQs
Check out APSCA’s FAQ page – it has been recently updated.
Don’t see a question / answer you’re looking for? Contact us at d irector@theapsca.org.

Questions? Send them here.

Follow Us

Connect with APSCA LinkedIn

Connect with APSCA Twitter

YouTube

Visit our Website

APSCA Communications Survey – We Want to Hear From You!

09/07/2021 - 2 Comments

APSCA COMMUNICATIONS SURVEY

We Want To Hear From You!

We welcome your input. Click and view below for a brief survey to help us better serve you and improve our communications efforts.

Thank you! – APSCA Team

APSCA Newsletter June 2021

30/06/2021 - No Comments

This month we open expressions of interest to Member Firms, partners and affiliates to participate in having their social compliance auditing related training courses be considered for APSCA recognition. We encourage submissions in all languages.

We welcome our summer Intern to our APSCA Team, along with ten new Full Member firms.

Our current Newsletter subscriber numbers have reached over 4,000!
We encourage our Members (Firms and Auditors) as well as our Stakeholders to stayed updated through our newsletter and via our website.

We continue to welcome comments and questions to director@theapsca.org any time or via our website.

Further highlights are provided below.

Expression of Interest – Continuous Professional Development Trainings/Courses:

APSCA continues to drive compliance and support Member Auditor competencies through APSCA’ Continuous Professional Development (CPD) policy. As part of these on-going efforts, we welcome Member Firms, partners, and affiliates to participate in this initiative by submitting an expression of interest to have their social compliance auditing related training courses be considered for APSCA recognition. Approved courses will be eligible for Member Auditors to earn CPD hours to meet membership requirements. Recognized courses can range from online courses to webinars, conferences, and workshops.

You can submit your training or course materials for consideration by completing our expression of interest form here.

Any questions, please contact Director@theapsca.org

We are pleased to welcome Sophia Rubbo to the APSCA team as our summer Intern. Sophia will be researching and supporting APSCA’s continuous professional development (CPD) efforts and working closely with our Certification Coordinator, Shannon, on driving CPD and other related projects.

This is an exciting time for APSCA as we continue to grow rapidly and with Sophia’s assistance, APSCA will continue to efficiently manage and monitor the dynamic nature of the Social Compliance industry.

Auditor Handbook Now Available in Italian

APSCA’s Auditor Handbook is also available in English, Spanish, and Chinese (Simplified & Traditional) with additional languages coming soon, including Portuguese, Turkish, and more!

Reminder: APSCA’s Auditor Handbook is not publicly available or posted on the website. Member Auditors are advised to consult their Member Firm for a copy of the latest version or available languages.

Helpful Question and Answer
Q: What does it mean when an Auditor receives a Warning from the Disciplinary Board for Member Auditors (DBMA)?

A: The DBMA may impose a range of sanctions when if it finds that a Member Auditor’s conduct has violated APSCA’s Code and Standards of Professional Conduct. The mildest of these sanctions is a Warning Letter.

Warnings remain confidential and are not shared with third parties other than the relevant Member Firm. The Warning remains in the Member Auditor’s APSCA file for the period specified by the DBMA, which is usually two years. During this period, the Warning may be considered by the DBMA as a factor in determining sanctions if it substantiates a new violation of the APSCA Code by the same Member Auditor. If there are no new violations during the specified period, the Warning is removed from APSCA’s files.

We are pleased to congratulate full APSCA Member Firms
Partner Africa | Verner Wheelock Associates Ltd  |  SIPAS CR-PERU |  GCL International Ltd The British Standards Institution (BSI Group)  |  V-Trust  |  Verisio Ltd  |  GSCS International Ltd SCS Global Services  |  CSR Solutions Limited on their commitment to the realization of APSCA’s mission “To enhance the Professionalism and Credibility of individuals and organizations performing independent social compliance audits”.

Full Member Firms

For information on Firm Membership definitions and how your Firm can commence the application process, please visit our website.

Definition / reference of the terms noted above are available on our APSCA Member Auditors page.

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 is available in seven languages (English, Spanish, Simplified & Traditional Chinese, Italian, Portuguese, and Turkish), (with Bangla, Thai and Vietnamese coming soon)
Part II is available in four languages (English, Spanish, Simplified & Traditional Chinese), and
Part III is available in English, Spanish, Mandarin and Cantonese.

Please see our website, Resource Library for more information.

Auditor Enrollments

As of June 28, 2021 total enrolled Auditors exceeded 4,000 with a summary by Auditor level provided below.

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 ease of access, 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. Announcements will be updated on an ongoing basis.

Policies (Latest)
APSCA’s latest policies are available for viewing. The videos provide an overview of policies presented at APSCA’s 2020 AGM & Stakeholder Event, including: Auditor Status, Subcontractors, and Continuous Professional Development (CPD).

Document Translations
Further to our existing member documents, available in English, Spanish, and Chinese (Simplified & Traditional), APSCA is in the process of translating member documents in additional languages to better serve our global membership and community. Additional updates will be provided in due course though we encourage you to regularly review the Resource Page to see the latest documents and translations as they are released.

Visit our website to access the resources.

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 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.

FAQs
Check out APSCA’s FAQ page – it has been recently updated.
Don’t see a question / answer you’re looking for? Contact us at d irector@theapsca.org.

APSCA Newsletter May 2021

31/05/2021 - No Comments

During May we saw some changes at APSCA.
Unfortunately we say farewell to Carol Rice our Code and Compliance Manager and are excited to welcome Josh Morris into the role of Data Administration.

Updated date for completion of Part III Chinese exam, which has been extended to August 30 (ensure you have your seat booked prior to 30 June)

Our current Newsletter subscriber numbers have reached over 3,400.
We encourage our Members (Firms and Auditors) as well as our Stakeholders to stayed updated through our newsletter and via our website and we continue to welcome comments and questions to director@theapsca.org any time or via our website.

We are pleased to welcome Josh Morris to the APSCA team as our new Data Administrator.
Josh will be handling Auditor enrolments, associations, disassociations and other Member Auditor profile updates. Josh will be working closely with Emma who has moved to a newly created position of Data and Compliance Coordinator. This is an exciting time for APSCA as we continue to grow rapidly and with Josh’s assistance, APSCA will continue to efficiently manage and monitor the dynamic nature of the Social Compliance industry.

We are pleased to congratulate full APSCA Member Firm EUROCERT S A and International Compliance Group Inc. on their
commitment to the realization of APSCA’s mission “To enhance the Professionalism and Credibility of individuals and organizations performing independent social compliance audits”.

Full Member Firms

For information on Firm Membership definitions and how your Firm can commence the application process, please visit our website.

Definition / reference of the terms noted above are available on our APSCA Member Auditors page.

It is with regret that we announce that after 12 months with APSCA, our Code & Compliance Manager, Carol Rice, has made the decision to seek other opportunities. Carol has tirelessly worked to further implement APSCA’s Ethics & Integrity program and see it continue to work towards achieving our mission of enhancing the professionalism, consistency, and credibility of our Members.

We thank Carol for her time and support in helping drive ethics and integrity efforts at APSCA. For any questions or queries, please email Emma at ethics@theapsca.org who will be managing this with the support of our Senior Advisor Ethics, Tim Lindon.

This means that there is an opportunity to join our dynamic team.
We are looking for a Director Code & Compliance. Want to learn more about this role? Visit our website and application details here.
If you have questions, please do not hesitate to contact our team at Director@theapsca.org

May sees us welcome Allison Hudson and Zameer Pasha as our newest Stakeholder Board members.

Allison Hudson is the Director of Customer and Member Relations at Sedex. She leads the Sedex community programme, bringing members, customers and stakeholders together to raise awareness, convene discussions on customer and industry challenges and drive best practice.

Zameer Pasha is the Director of Global Supplier Compliance at Walmart. In this role Zameer leads the responsibility of administering Social Compliance / Supply Chain Security monitoring solutions, Risk monitoring through assessment of audit reports.

Welcome!

Read more about Allison Hudson and Zameer Pasha here.

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; failure to follow the guidance, may see the exam disallowed and being unable to sit for a period up to 12 months.

CSCA Exams Part I is available in seven Languages (English, Spanish, Simplified & Traditional Chinese, Turkish, Italian and Portuguese) Part II is available in four Languages (English, Spanish, Simplified & Traditional Chinese) and Part III is available in English, Spanish, Mandarin and Cantonese.

Please see our website, Resource Library for more information.

NOTE: Has an Auditor’s profile been moved to ASCA? This could be because the auditor is noted as ‘advanced’ in Spanish or English and did not sit their Part II exam by the 30 March deadline. Ensure you check your profile to confirm your APSCA Auditor Level.

Auditor Enrollments

As at 27 May 2021, total enrolled Auditors exceeded 4,000 with a summary by Auditor level provided below.

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 ease of access, 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. Announcements will be updated on an ongoing basis.

Policies (Latest)
APSCA’s latest policies are available for viewing. The videos provide an overview of policies presented at APSCA’s 2020 AGM & Stakeholder Event, including: Auditor Status, Subcontractors, and Continuous Professional Development (CPD).

Document Translations
Further to our existing member documents, available in English, Spanish, and Chinese (Simplified & Traditional), APSCA is in the process of translating member documents in additional languages to better serve our global membership and community. Additional updates will be provided in due course though we encourage you to regularly review the Resource Page to see the latest documents and translations as they are released.

Visit our website to access the resources.

Our monthly
newsletter now reaches over 3,000 subscribers each month! We encourage our Member Firms to have their
auditors subscribe to APSCA’s newsletter to stay up to date 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.