ICSI SAS – 06 Social Audit Standard on protection of national heritage, art and culture
Applicability and Scope
This Social Audit Standard (‘the Standard’) is applicable to the Social Auditor as defined under sub-Regulation (f) of Regulation 292A of Securities and Exchange Board of India (Issue of Capital and Disclosure Requirements) Regulations, 2018 conducting the Social Audit of the Social Enterprise as defined under sub-Regulation (h) of Regulation 292A of Securities and Exchange Board of India (Issue of Capital and Disclosure Requirements) Regulations, 2018. This Standard deals with procedures, responsibilities and duties of the Auditor with respect to the Social Audit being conducted by him/ her of the Social Enterprises engaged in the activities prescribed under sub-regulation 2(vi) of Regulation 292E of Securities and Exchange Board of India (Issue of Capital and Disclosure Requirements) Regulations, 2018.
Objective
ICSI Social Audit Standard – 06 (ICSI SAS-06) aims to aid the Social Auditors with necessary instructions or guidelines for the effective Social Audit of Social Enterprises engaged in the field of “protection of national heritage, art and culture”. Social Auditor shall follow the minimum criteria as specified in this proposed Social Audit Standard issued by the ICSI.
Effective Date
This Social Audit Standard will be in force with effect from –/–/20–.
Social Audit Process and Documentation
Social Auditors shall conduct the Social Audit in accordance with the procedures/ mandates established and notified by the ICSI from time to time. Social Auditor shall perform their functions that provide sufficient and adequate evidence to support Social Audit. Social Auditor can acquire evidence for the effectiveness of Social Audit through inspection, observation, inquiry, consultation, interview, questionnaire, analytical
procedures and/or other research techniques or any other acceptable methods as he/she deems fit. The procedures to be followed are as under:
I. Define Social Audit objectives and planning Social Audit;
II. Intimation to the Management of the Social Enterprise about the Audit Plan;
III. Identification of Stakeholders and consultation;
IV. Visit to/inspection of the area where project/activity was implemented;
V. Collection of data, Analysis and assessment;
VI. Reporting.
I. Define Social Audit objectives and planning Social Audit
The Social Auditor shall define the object and scope of the Social Audit prior to conducting Social Audit. It is always better to have a proper plan prior to Social Audit and it includes nature, timing and extent of the procedures and standards to be followed while conducting Social Audit. The Social Auditor should also analyse the report, recommendations of the previous Social Audit, if any, and review the corrective actions taken by the Social Enterprise with respect to the recommendations suggested in the previous Social Audit Report. This is the first stage of Social Audit process.
II. Intimation to the Management of the Social Enterprise about the Audit Plan
It is expected that the Social Auditor should intimate the audit plan to the Management of the Social Enterprise so that they can have the necessary documents and materials ready and available for the Auditor.
III. Identification of Stakeholders and Consultation
The key stakeholders who can be involved in the Social Audit process include project beneficiaries, officials of the local bodies, Civil Society Organizations (CSOs), the Archaeological Survey of India, tourists, media, archaeological departments, museum authorities, archaeology and art students, craftsmen and artisans engaged in traditional art and culture, employees at a heritage site, local tour agents and tourist guides etc. The consultation must be done with the stakeholders to extract accurate and needed information.
IV. Visit to / inspection of the area where project / activity was implemented
The Social Auditor must make it a point to visit / inspect the location and this will also give him / her better opportunities both for collection of data and consultation with the stakeholders.
V. Collection of data, analysis and assessment
This activity involves identifying key issues that need to be cross checked in the Social Audit as well as how information and data pertaining to the activity undertaken by the Social Enterprise will be collected. Moreover, in Social Audit process, two types of data are crucial. Primary data collected from stakeholders and community members, followed by Secondary data collected from various other sources. Gathering secondary information is very important in the process of Social Audit. Secondary data are inevitable for making Social Audit Reports. Information required for preparing Social Audit Reports may not be available in single point but may be in different records in different forms.
Social Auditor shall collect the relevant information through any of the following methods:
- Documents and records.
- National GIS data for monuments and heritage sites
- History of heritage sites
- Archaeological surveys and reports
- Tourist data from govt of India
- Tourist feedback, blogs and reports
- Research and other published reports
- Questionnaires and surveys.
- Published data from authorized sources.
Evaluation should be based on certain criteria and suggestive list of such criteria is provided hereinafter. However, the list is inclusive and not exhaustive and the Social Auditor must exercise his own discretion and judgement on case to case basis. Also, the feedback from stakeholders should be considered while preparing the Social Audit Report.
|
Sl. |
Particulars |
| A. Protection of national heritage, art and culture | |
| 1 | Initiatives taken to provide direct training or assist the entities in the field of manpower training in structural safety and infrastructure of national heritage (including buildings, historic places and monuments). |
| 2 | Initiatives taken/ awareness programmes conducted and/ or financial assistance given for protection, maintenance and conservation of national heritage, art and culture. |
| 3 | Initiatives taken for creating awareness among the local population and the visitors about the heritage resources and spread a quest for heritage preservation. |
| 4 | Introduction of offline and online trainings for tourism purposes for the people willing to undertake ventures in this regard. |
| 5 | Initiatives taken for involvement of Universities for the protection of national heritage and promoting art and culture. |
| 6 | Initiatives taken for grading and proper record keeping/ documentation of national heritage, art and culture. |
| 7 | Financial assistance given for repair and/ or restoration of national heritage damaged due to natural disasters or otherwise. |
| 8 | Programmes and trainings conducted to create awareness among the target population regarding disaster management of heritage sites. |
| 9 | Initiatives taken for creating awareness among the local population and the visitors about our art and culture. |
| 10 | Adopting monuments or historical buildings or places of target area. |
| 11 | Programmes conducted to create understanding the cultural and historical significance of heritage, art and culture. |
| 12 | Sensitization programmes conducted to inculcate a sense of pride among the students, teachers and the community about our culture. |
| 13 | Seminars, quizzes and exhibitions conducted on the importance and protection of the monuments located in the target area. |
| 14 | Initiatives taken and financial assistance provided to strengthen and modernise existing museums or set up new museums. |
| 15 | Initiatives taken and financial assistance provided to conserve and disseminate the knowledge in manuscripts and to publish rare and unpublished manuscripts for researchers, scholars and the general public. |
| 16 | Initiatives taken and financial assistance provided to identify and develop unattended and underdeveloped pilgrim sites across India to enrich the religious tourism experience. |
| 17 | Initiatives taken to develop and promote theme-based tourist circuits focusing on the principles of high tourist value, competitiveness and sustainability in an integrated manner. |
| 18 | Initiatives taken to digitize heritage materials housed in museums, archives, libraries and other institutions to protect them for future generations. |
| 19 | Initiatives taken to conduct heritage walks to raise awareness about historical and cultural value of the site. |
| 20 | Initiatives taken to promote study and research on the heritage site, art and culture. |
| 21 | Measures taken to protect the art, culture and heritage sites from natural calamities and manmade catastrophes. |
| 22 | Types of new age digital tools (like 3D tours, QR codes, interactive platforms, audio guides etc) introduced to make the historic site more vibrant and interesting to new generation. |
| 23 | Initiatives taken towards tightening of security at the heritage site. |
| 24 | Initiative taken to inspire more and more young people and students to render voluntary services for upkeep of the historic site. |
| 25 | Measures taken to ensure that visitors and tourists do not damage the historic structure by vandalising or unauthorised inscriptions or defacement. |
| 26 | Measures taken to revive traditional art and culture and number of people involved in such revival. |
| 27 | Initiatives taken to popularise traditional art and culture amongst the local population. |
| 28 | Steps taken to increase footfall of international tourists in heritage sites. |
VI. Reporting
The Social Audit Report shall include information about the objective set out at the beginning of the Social Audit, methodologies adopted, observations, findings and recommendations if any. The Social Auditor shall also identify the challenges faced in implementation of the projects / activities and suggest areas for improvement based on observation, interview and feedback received from stakeholders. The Social Auditor shall also list out the limitations of the audit process which might include inability to identify all stakeholders, non-availability of proper response from stakeholders, lack of archaeological data, absence of historical records about traditional art and culture, and so on and point out the extent to which such limitations impact the Audit Report. The Report of Social Audit shall be as per the format notified by the ICSI from time to time.
*****
To Read Related post Social Audit Standard
