Governance & Policy
Tick-the-Box Certification
Certification or compliance that satisfies documentation requirements without changing underlying practice — the assurance system's chronic failure mode.
Definition
Tick-the-box certification describes conformity exercises in which meeting the documented requirements of a standard or audit substitutes for achieving its purpose: policies written for the audit, records generated for the inspection, conditions staged for the visit. The critique applies across social auditing (where double bookkeeping and coached workers are documented), management system certification, and ESG compliance — anywhere the artefact (the certificate, the report) can be produced more cheaply than the reality.
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