ICSI SAS – 08 Social Audit Standard on supporting incubators of Social Enterprises
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(a)(viii) of Regulation 292E of Securities and Exchange Board of India (Issue of Capital and Disclosure Requirements) Regulations, 2018.
Objective
ICSI Social Audit Standard – 08 (ICSI SAS-08) aims to aid the Social Auditors with necessary instructions or checklists for the effective Social Audit of Social Enterprises engaged in the field of “supporting incubators of Social Enterprises”. 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 Auditor shall conduct the Social Audit in accordance with the procedures/ mandates established and notified by the ICSI from time to time. Social Auditors 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 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), academic institutions, professionals, staff, media, 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 government documents and reports. 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
- Enrolment data for training programmes
- Contracts / Agreements for incubation
- Scope of work drawn for the incubation programme
- Progress Report
- Questionnaires and surveys
- Interviews
- Observations
- 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.
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Particulars |
| A. Supporting incubators of Social Enterprises | |
| 1 | Initiatives taken for making incubators of social enterprises more compatible to the changing world. |
| 2 | Assistance for creating new revenue stream for incubators of social enterprises. |
| 3 | Training programmes conducted for incubators of social enterprises to cope up with future challenges. |
| 4 | Assistance given to incubators of social enterprises to make them use of latest technologies in their activities. |
| 5 | Details of training sessions, workshops and other informative sessions organized. |
| 6 | Initiatives taken for ease in working with the government, finding right talent, and scaling sustainably. |
| 7 | Assistance in the form of building networks, guidance on developing business plans and access to network of mentors. |
| 8 | Initiatives taken for making incubators of social enterprises more compatible to the changing world. |
| 9 | Process of selection of incubatees, number of incubatees selected based on the selection criteria and quantum of grants disbursed. |
| 10 | Nature of physical infrastructure and value added support services provided to the incubatees. |
| 11 | Contribution to the entities engaged in research and development projects funded by the Government. |
| 12 | Contribution to the entities engaged in conducting research in science, technology, engineering and medicine aimed at promoting Sustainable Development Goals (SDG). |
| 13 | Impact created by the supported organisations and number of patent applications filed and patents granted. |
| 14 | Level of satisfaction of incubatees with the support services they received from the incubators. |
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, 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.
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