Many companies find themselves in a Catch-22 position. Refusing to publicly disclose audit findings calls into question a firm's commitment to fix what's wrong. Until we are able to see what they're doing, it's hard to know what is really going on. Members' fees fund FLA, and compliance is voluntary. Officially, only FLA member companies and its governing board receive audit reports.
Critics claim such reporting allows companies to bury damaging information.
FLA Director Mr. Brown cites Nike's voluntary publication of critical audit reports on its Indonesian and Mexican factories as evidence of FLA members' commitment to transparency. While experts praise disclosure as a positive step, remediation is all-important. Created by the Council on Economic Priorities, SAI draws on established international workplace-quality standards to measure social accountability. SAI standardizes factory certification and focuses accountability closer to production. Six SAI-accredited certification organizations have approved 60 factories in 10 industries.