Preparing for a Factory Audit: What Buyers and Suppliers Should Expect

By YZR Sweaters · 2026-09

A factory audit is a structured look at how a site actually operates: the hours people work, how they are paid, how chemicals, exits and records are managed, and whether quality systems hold up at volume. Buyers use audits to judge whether a supplier is safe to place orders with; factories use them to demonstrate that they are. Knowing the sequence and the evidence involved removes most of the friction.

Audit types you are most likely to meet

"Factory audit" covers several different exercises, and they are not interchangeable.

• BSCI (amfori) — a social compliance audit covering working hours, wages, health and safety, worker representation and business ethics, graded and shared with buyers through the amfori platform.
• SEDEX / SMETA — another social audit framework, usually a four-pillar review of labour standards, health and safety, environment and business ethics.
• Customer or brand audits — proprietary programs with a buyer's own checklist, scoring and correction deadlines. Content overlaps with BSCI and SMETA, but the paperwork does not, so factories often carry several at once.
• Quality system audits (QMS) — an ISO 9001 style certificate audit or a review against your quality manual, focused on process control, inspection and traceability rather than worker welfare.
• Technical or capability audits — common in knitwear, these look at gauges, machine lists, what is done in-house (knitting, linking, washing, finishing) and what is subcontracted.

What an audit actually examines

Social audits follow a fairly consistent list, even when the report template differs.

• Working hours and wages — timesheets against payroll, overtime levels, rest days, minimum wage, deductions and payslip clarity.
• Fire and building safety — exits, extinguishers, alarms, evacuation drills, aisle clearance, and where relevant dormitory and canteen conditions.
• Chemical management — storage, labelling, inventories, safety data sheets, restricted substance controls and wastewater handling.
• Child and forced labour — age verification, hiring records, no retention of identity documents or deposits.
• Environment — permits, waste transfer records, boiler and generator compliance, energy and water practices.
• Quality management — incoming yarn checks, in-line and final inspection, AQL sampling, gauge control, and traceability from yarn lot to carton.

The audit process, step by step

Timelines vary by scheme and auditor, but the shape is predictable: application and self-assessment, scheduling and scope confirmation, an on-site day, a published report, a corrective action plan with deadlines, and a follow-up that checks whether the actions were actually closed.

On site, expect an opening meeting, a factory walkthrough, worker interviews away from management, document review, and a closing meeting where preliminary findings are discussed. Workers are usually interviewed privately, which is why rehearsed answers rarely survive contact with an audit.

How buyers should request and follow up

• Ask for the report, not the logo. Check the audited entity name, the site address, the audit date and the rating.
• Confirm scope. A certificate for one building does not cover a sister unit or a subcontractor doing your linking.
• Read the corrective actions. Open findings matter more than the headline score; ask when each will close and what evidence follows.
• Book audit rights into the contract — your own visit plus third-party inspection through SGS, BV or a nominated agency.
• Decide your own thresholds up front — which grades you will accept, which findings are blockers and which are monitored.

Documents a factory should have ready

Preparation is mostly record-keeping discipline, and the documents below are the ones auditors ask for first.

• Business licence, permits and the site's legal identity documents.
• Payroll records, attendance and timesheets, typically covering the previous twelve months.
• Social insurance or equivalent contribution records.
• Fire safety inspection certificates, drill records and maintenance logs for fire equipment.
• Chemical inventory, safety data sheets, purchase records and disposal documents.
• Employment contracts, age verification records and health checks where applicable.
• Quality records: inspection reports, AQL plans, calibration certificates and gauge records.
• Machine list, maintenance schedule and any environmental permits or waste transfer notes.

Common findings and what closing them takes

The same issues recur across the industry: overtime running above the legal or brand cap during peak season, timesheets that do not match payroll, blocked exits or missing drills, unlabelled chemical containers, and quality records kept only for final inspection. Closing them properly means addressing the cause — scheduling, training, storage design — and keeping evidence afterwards. A corrective action plan that is a stack of new paperwork, with no change on the floor, will not hold up at the follow-up visit.

Turning the report into a buying decision

Treat the audit as one input rather than a pass or fail stamp. A strong social rating does not confirm that a factory can knit your gauge or link a clean collar, and a technical audit says nothing about how wages are paid. Used together — social report, technical capability, sample quality and references — they give you a defensible picture of the supplier before the first bulk order.

Where YZR Sweaters fits

We work with partner knitwear factories in Dongguan and the wider Pearl River Delta whose sites hold BSCI, SEDEX and Oeko-Tex certification. They welcome factory visits, accept third-party inspection and support buyer audits, so you can verify the supply chain behind your custom knitwear program rather than take our word for it. OEM/ODM development runs from sampling through bulk, with MOQ set per style and colourway.