Move Beyond Knowing the Code. Practice Making the Decision.
A highly interactive, scenario-based ethics workshop for social compliance auditing Member Firms and Member Auditors.
Course description
Ethics Is Easier to Discuss Than It Is to Practice.
Auditors rarely encounter ethical issues as simple questions with obvious answers. They encounter incomplete information, relationships, commercial pressure, competing responsibilities, and decisions that must be made in real time.
Ethics in Practice puts participants into those situations.
During this 120-minute workshop, participants work through realistic social compliance audit scenarios, make decisions before the answer is revealed, receive additional facts, reconsider their decisions, and connect their choices to the applicable APSCA Code requirements.
The Scenarios
The Ride to the Facility
The Ride to the Facility
The Ride to the Facility
Can an auditor accept transportation from a factory?
The Helpful Factory
The Ride to the Facility
The Ride to the Facility
What happens when refreshments become a meal, and then a gift?
Too Close to Call
The Ride to the Facility
When does a relationship, prior work, or commercial pressure threaten independence?
You're the Auditor Today
Can the audit proceed when the available team may not have the required competency?
Just Finish the Report
Just Finish the Report
What happens when the client deadline arrives before the required audit work is complete?
Who Said That?
Just Finish the Report
How much information can you disclose without exposing a worker?
Your Team Won't Spend Two Hours Watching Slides.
What happens in the room
Participants move around the room, debate decisions with colleagues, analyze evidence, practice difficult conversations, and defend their reasoning.
As scenarios develop, participants may discover that the decision they made five minutes earlier changes when one additional fact is revealed. That is intentional. The workshop is designed to recreate the ambiguity and pressure that make real-world ethical decisions difficult.
The goal isn't simply to know the answer. It is to practice reaching the answer.
Interactive Activities
GREEN / YELLOW / RED
Participants physically commit to whether an action is acceptable, requires more analysis, or should not proceed.
INDEPENDENCE THREATS
Teams identify and sort self-interest, self-review, familiarity/trust, and intimidation threats.
FOUR CORNERS
Participants move to the part of the room representing their decision, then defend it.
EVIDENCE PACKETS
Small groups analyze facts and determine what they know, what they are assuming, and what additional evidence they need.
ROLE PLAY
Participants practice responding to pressure and communicating difficult ethical decisions.
DISCLOSURE WRITING
Participants practice documenting concerns clearly and appropriately.
What's Included
Every Participant Receives
✓ Participant Workbook
✓ APSCA Code Quick Reference Guide
✓ Two hours of live scenario-based instruction
✓ Interactive exercises
✓ Scenario-based final assessment
✓ Post-assessment remediation, when needed
Your Member Firm Receives
✓ Private onsite workshop
✓ Facilitator-led team activities
✓ Course administration support
✓ Attendance/completion documentation
✓ Post-course evaluation
✓ Opportunity for firm-specific discussion
Who Should Attend?
Member Auditors and social compliance audit teams
Member Firm ethics and integrity personnel
Audit managers and quality personnel
Leaders responsible for auditor conduct and Code compliance
The workshop is particularly valuable for teams that want to develop a more consistent approach to ethical decision-making across auditors, managers, and locations.
