What does it take to be an APSCA CSCA Auditor?
A chat with Eurofins CPA’s first APSCA CSCA Auditor Glinda Sun
After achieving the Full Member Firm status of the Association of Professional Social Compliance Auditors (APSCA), we have been working hard on the qualification of our auditors and in May, we were thrilled for Glinda Sun, our first auditor in China to be a Certified Social Compliance Auditor (CSCA) and awarded the Certificate!
Glinda is currently the Senior Auditor with Eurofins CPA and she has been in the compliance industry for almost 15 years, covering social compliance, health & safety as well as environmental aspects with expertise in the latter field, supporting clients in achieving compliance goals and improving factories’ performance.
Aiming to enhance the professionalism, consistency and credibility of individual auditors and organisations performing independent social compliance audits, APSCA has set up the CSCA Exams to verify the qualification of a Member Auditor. The Exams consist of three parts – Part I Multiple-Choice, Part II Written Case Study and Part III Simulated Interview, assessing auditors’ industry knowledge, language proficiency and spontaneous responses. From the APSCA newsletter in April 2021, only about 10% of Auditors have reached the CSCA status, demonstrating how stringent the exams are.
It is our pleasure to have Glinda share her feelings on being certified and for her to share practical tips for others who are preparing for the exams.
We’re very motivated by our first APSCA CSCA Auditor!
Q: Why did you join this industry? What motivated you?
A: It was all by chance. There was a course on social compliance in my postgraduate study and when I was looking for a job, I was drawn to the social responsibility role in a testing, inspection and certification firm. I just applied and was hired!
After entering this industry, I realised that this is a new way of working, which requires a lot of travel, plus engaging different industries and sizes of export companies with varied management styles.
The job is by no way an easy one but it offers a very broad exposure and horizon to me. During my auditing journey, I met all kinds of managers and sizable production lines, as well as challenges and unforeseeable scenarios. It has been a privilege to witness the rapid development of the "Made in China" boom around the world.
Q: How do you feel about becoming the first APSCA CSCA at Eurofins CPA?
A: I was truly excited upon getting the notification, followed by appreciation and gratefulness. I was really nervous as there were many uncertainties before Part III, but I received a lot of encouragement and guidance from my immediate manager Joyce, our Technical Manager Tia in the UK, and Randy, our seasoned social compliance expert in the US. The support from a whole team motivated me, and I knew that I wasn’t taking on the challenges alone. APSCA is such a significant organisation in the industry and being recommended by the company to take the CSCA exam is a great recognition of my ability!
Q: We’ve heard that Part III is particularly challenging, what did you do to prepare for it?
A: Yes, Part III is really much more difficult than Part I and Part II. We only knew that there would be three interviews in Part III but had no clue about other details such as the interview content, format, time control and style.
All I could do to prepare was to read through all emails and attachments sent by APSCA carefully.
The last sentence of the APSCA exam guidelines “Don't be scared... be prepared!” really staged it well.
Q: Other auditors in the company are going to take the Part III exam, anything you would like to share with them?
A: I’m sure other auditors are highly experienced in the field and it won’t be a big issue for them to pass the exam. Still these are my personal experiences and hopefully they’re useful for them!
- Don’t get over-pressured! Be confident in yourself. We have come across different scenarios in real auditing and we will be able to nail the simulated interviews if we stay calm.
- Set up your wifi network, laptop and timing per the exam guidelines beforehand. It will be truly disappointing to miss the exam just because of hardware failure.
- Make sure you are well-rested for the day of the exam.
Q: Having worked in the industry for so many years, what have you noticed that’s worth sharing?
A: The requirements in social compliance audits have evolved and refined substantially. It was rather simple and primitive at the beginning but things have become notably more systematic and sophisticated. We have also transformed from paper reporting to digital reporting, allowing instant data-sharing and higher levels of transparency in the supply chain.
Most reports have a summary section. This allows you to analyse the audit quickly and helps direct you to certain sections of the report which you can review in-depth. Look for key phrases such as critical, bullying, forced labour and you may have other key phrases that matter to you.
From my point of view, service providers, buyers and auditing standards have collectively helped spearhead the improvement of factories in terms of health & safety, social and environmental performance. As some factory owners told me, without the compulsory requirements, their sole focus may have been on increasing production capacities, overlooking all those aspects that contributed to where they are now – a manufacturing environment with more comprehensive systems and working models.
Within the Eurofins CPA network of companies, we have a team of highly-qualified and expertly skilled auditors just like Glinda, offering a wide variety of social compliance audit services. You can learn more about our full scope of solutions here.
