Audit

South Africa’s agricultural sector is at the heart of the country’s efforts to achieve the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), a set of global objectives established in 2015 to promote prosperity and sustainability by 2030. However, with growing challenges such as climate change, water scarcity, and land degradation, meeting these goals will require more than just policy reforms — it will demand rigorous environmental oversight, particularly through environmental auditing.

It’s crucial to ensure your contact information on the SIZA platform is accurate and current to keep you fully informed and updated on important developments. Audits are costly and have become increasingly important over the last few years. Therefore, it is important to gain as much knowledge about this expense in your business as possible because, without proof of compliance, you cannot access a variety of markets to sell your products. Having the right contacts listed allows us to deliver timely, relevant communication to the right person in your business.

In today’s compliance-driven marketplace, having real-time visibility into suppliers’ compliance information is essential for buyers aiming to mitigate risks and ensure adherence to Social and Environmental standards. The MySIZA platform stands out as a cutting-edge, globally competitive solution for the South African agricultural industry. 

During the last several months, various producers indicated that the language used on the audit day between the auditor, producer and employees caused frustration and difficulties on the day.

Many producers request information on how they schedule their SIZA third-party audits. The first step is to ensure you plan when your next audit needs to take place, and then contact all the recognised audit firms to get tentative quotes and dates, before deciding on which firm to use.

In various circumstances, auditors may find it necessary to document specific information during audits with a video or voice recording, which can subsequently be incorporated into the audit report.

While it is understandable that businesses are highly occupied and face various challenges during this time, it is essential for audits to be conducted when the site is at its peak production.

The completion of corrective actions following an audit holds immense importance as it serves as evidence that the site is actively implementing improvements.

SIZA strives to ensure continuous improvement within agri-businesses, allowing for economic growth, social responsibility, and environmental stewardship throughout the supply chain.

It is important to note that when an audit is scheduled, it cannot be done through coercion or colluding between parties to achieve a mutually beneficial outcome that is unethical. This includes the business requesting a specific auditor, or an auditor auditing a business where they might have a personal connection.