Choosing an audit firm
In this article, we identify some tips that may help Members to choose an appropriate auditing firm for their ASI audit.
12 September 2023
ASI Accredited Auditing Firms are responsible for conducting independent, third-party audits to certify members against the ASI Standards.
It is the ASI Member’s responsibility to select their audit firm from the list of Accredited Auditing Firms on the ASI website. This list of audit firms is also available on elementAL (ASI’s online Assurance Platform).
Members are encouraged to contact several Accredited Auditing Firms to familiarise themselves with the availability and commercial terms of each before choosing a firm.
What factors may members consider when choosing a firm?
- Accreditation scope – Members must select a firm that is accredited to audit in their geographical area as well as supply chain activity. The list on our website can be filtered to show which firms meet member specifications in terms of activity and geography.
- Auditor Availability – To ensure that members do not miss their certification deadlines, we recommend scheduling certification audits up to six months in advance of the certification due date. It is therefore important to consider auditor availability for the proposed audit dates when choosing an audit firm. If the preferred audit firm has no available auditors for the proposed audit timeframe, there may be a need to reconsider the choice of audit firm.
There are of course other considerations like the responsiveness of the audit firm to inquiries, whether they have local auditors in areas where some of the Entity’s facilities to be audited are based, etc. The main point is to treat the selection of an audit firm in much the same way as one would treat the selection of any other service provider. Have a list of criteria and settle for one that meets the requirements.
As the Member -Auditor relationship is proprietary, it’s important that members understand that they are the audit firms’ clients with the associated rights and responsibilities.
If you have any questions regarding selecting an audit firm for your ASI Certification audit, please contact Chinelo Etiaba, Membership Director at chinelo@aluminium-stewardship.org
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