Unannounced audit

Definition

An unannounced audit is a conformity assessment conducted without prior notice to the audited site, so assessors observe ordinary operating conditions rather than prepared ones. It addresses a structural weakness of scheduled social compliance audits — staged records, coached workers, temporary fixes — that became prominent in factory-safety debates after disasters such as Rana Plaza. Schemes apply it selectively because of cost and access logistics: BAP's Enhanced Social Module introduced unannounced audits from November 2025, and amfori BSCI uses semi-announced windows in which the audit date is narrowed but not disclosed. Unannounced audits strengthen the credibility of findings on wages, hours and safety, and are increasingly treated as a marker of assurance rigour.