Third-Party Certifications and the Role of Auditing Policies in Sustainability

Abstract

In the European context, the proliferation of private agrienvironmental certifications leads many farmers to become subject to increasing controls by either independent, private third-party certifying bodies or public authorities. The aim of this study is thus to explore the potential benefits of and the organizational limits to the use of combined audits when farmers are involved in multiple private certifications. Our analysis especially emphasizes the role of time structuring during the audit process, the transition from checklist toward risk-based auditing and the role of knowledge artefacts for the reliability of the audit process and the certification. Our study offers insights on the possible transformative role of auditing policies in the governance of agrienvironmental certified schemes toward more sustainability in agriculture.

Exploring inter-firm knowledge through contractual governance: A case study of production contracts for faba-bean procurement in France

“…Several strategic management studies recognize contract as a repository of knowledge Argyres, 2004, Reuer andArino, 2007;Li et al, 2010), allowing for codified knowledge transfer through its technical specifications. Moreover, through the whole governance structure, contracts can support learning-by-interaction leading to a form of inter-organizational learning (Mazé, 2002;Nooteboom, 2004;Lam, 2005;Mazé, 2016). Thus, contracts may "provide the ground for disclosure and exchange of additional information and knowledge beyond what is described in the contract" (Leone, 2016) In addition, literature distinguishes two types of learning: the « Science, Technology, Innovation » mode (STI) and the « Doing, Using, Interacting » (DUI) (Jensen et al, 2016).…”

Standard-setting activities and new institutional economics

“…Being less prescriptive, meta-standards also place primary responsibility with those who possess the most information about risk and potential control methods, the counterpart to which is a more administrative approach and less uniformity in the targeted outcomes (Henson and Humphrey, 2009). In this context, the GlobalGAP standard cannot be considered as a meta-standard itself, but rather just as a process standard similar to the other GAP guidelines (Mazé et al 2016).…”

“…Finally, a major obstacle to full harmonisation of GAP guidelines is the determination of thresholds and conceptual categories, often defined in authoritative and highly qualitative ways and with large variations across the various GAP guidelines (Mazé et al, 2007(Mazé et al, , 2016. 16 Differences in ratings can block equivalence and mutual recognition with other standards and limit the role of GAP guidelines as real drivers of harmonisation at the international level, in addition to impeding adjudication between various competing standards and defining the most relevant solutions towards in pursuit of more sustainable farming practices.…”

Research Audit Helps Rural Residential Environment Improvement

“…For example, in the medical field, auditing can help improve the situation of children with asthma [1].Auditing is part of an extensive quality improvement process by rigorously evaluating existing care based on existing knowledge and best practices, and then implementing evidence-based changes,It can improve the nursing and treatment results of patients [2].The United Kingdom attaches great importance to the development of clinical audit projects in medical practice. When the existing evidence is insufficient, audit can be used as the basis for promoting health care policies, and the audit process as a driving force for quality improvement has been warmly welcomed in the UK [3].National audit is also the only practical method to study the rare but related complications, and can make reasonable suggestions based on a large number of confirmed cases [4].In addition, audit plays a significant role in preventing and detecting corruption [5], realizing sustainable development of agriculture [6], protecting investors [7], ensuring food safety [8], promoting the development of construction industry and the country [9], and improving the efficiency and effectiveness of public sector organizations [10]. At present, China's audit institutions are actively promoting research-oriented audit, which is the exploration and innovation of audit ideas and methods in the new era [11].With the development of research-oriented audit practice, related research literature also began to appear.…”