What a factory audit actually involves
Kavita Tewari
A basic factory verification audit costs around $220 plus travel and takes one day. It confirms the factory exists, is what it claims to be, and can make what you need. Social compliance audits like SMETA cost more and check different things entirely. No audit tells you whether your specific order will be good, which is what a pre-shipment inspection is for.
Most buyers hear "factory audit" and picture one thing. There are at least five, they check completely different things, they cost very different amounts, and most small brands need only one of them.
Here is what each actually involves.
An audit is not an inspection.
Start here, because conflating these two causes more disappointment than any other misunderstanding in sourcing.
Factory audit | Pre-shipment inspection | |
|---|---|---|
Assesses | The factory | Your goods |
When | Before you commit | Before the goods ship |
Answers | Can they do this, and are they legitimate? | Is this order correct? |
Frequency | Once, then periodically | Every order, or every significant one |
An audit is a snapshot of capability on one day. It tells you a factory has the machines, the systems, and the legitimacy to make your product. It does not tell you that the 500 units in the container match your specification.
An audited factory can still ship you a bad order. That is not a failure of the audit. It is a different question, and the answer to it is an inspection.
Most small brands need a light audit once and an inspection every order. Many buy the opposite.
The types, and which one you need
Factory verification audit, or FVA
Checks: that the company exists at the address, the site is a real production facility, the legal documents match, and there is a broad capability fit.
Includes: a site tour, document checks against registrations, and a capability snapshot.
Duration: roughly one man-day.
Who needs it: almost every first-time buyer, especially anyone who has never visited. This is the one that catches a trading company presenting a partner's factory as its own, and it is the audit most small brands actually want.
Factory technical audit, or FTA
Checks: whether the quality system is real. Calibration records for inspection equipment, incoming material inspection, traceability, how nonconformances are handled, and evidence of corrective and preventive action.
Duration: roughly two man-days.
Who needs it: anyone with technical tolerances, regulated products, or a repeat programme worth protecting.
Worth knowing: many small manufacturers will not pass this, and it does not mean they are bad. A 20-person workshop taking 100-unit orders runs on sample approval rather than documented CAPA processes. That is appropriate at that scale. Commissioning an FTA on a small custom workshop is buying the wrong tool.
Social compliance audit: SMETA, BSCI, WRAP, SA8000
Checks: labour standards, health and safety, and depending on scope, environmental practice and business ethics. Includes confidential worker interviews and document sampling.
SMETA comes in two forms: 2-Pillar covers labour plus health and safety, 4-Pillar adds environment and business ethics.
BSCI is run by amfori, a trade association of over 2,700 retailers, importers and brands, and scores factories A to E.
Duration scales with workforce size:
Workers | Auditor days |
|---|---|
5 to 100 | 1 |
101 to 500 | 2 |
501 to 1,000 | 3 |
1,001 to 2,000 | 4 |
Plus about half a day for report writing, and travel is often billed, commonly half a day for one to two hours each way.
Who needs it: brands making ethical claims, anyone selling to retailers who require it, and anyone whose brand risk sits in labour conditions. A direct-to-consumer brand doing 100 units usually does not need this, and asking a small workshop to fund one is not realistic.
ISO certification audit
Not a buyer's tool. This is the process a factory goes through to obtain ISO 9001, 14001, 22000 or 22716. It runs in stages with ongoing surveillance, and it is commissioned by the factory, not by you.
What you do instead: verify their certificate number on IAF CertSearch rather than commissioning anything.
GMP and regulated audits
For pharmaceuticals, cosmetics and food, where the standard is a legal requirement rather than a preference. Stricter evidence, higher auditor qualifications, and materially higher cost.
What it costs
Almost nobody publishes these figures, which is why founders assume audits are out of reach.
Type | Typical cost |
|---|---|
Basic package, simple verification | around $220 plus travel |
Extensive package | around $440 plus travel |
Standard man-day rate | roughly $188 to $280 |
All-inclusive man-day model | around $398 |
Premium or specialist tier | $900+ per man-day |
GMP or regulated audit | around €800 per audit day, plus a one-off preparation and reporting fee |
SMETA programme fee | around £185, separate from the auditor's invoice |
What drives the number up: scope, factory size and number of production lines, travel distance, whether an interpreter is needed for worker interviews, rush booking, and any follow-up visit to verify corrective actions.
Surcharges to expect: holiday work commonly adds around $50 per man-day, evening work around $15 per hour after 6pm.
Report turnaround is typically one to three business days.
The headline: a basic factory verification on a small Indian supplier is a few hundred dollars. Set against a first order and a 50 percent advance, that is cheap insurance, and it is well within reach of a brand doing 100 units.
Announced, semi-announced, unannounced
Type | How it works | What it is good for |
|---|---|---|
Announced | Date agreed in advance | Technical audits needing specific documents and staff available |
Semi-announced | A window given, not a date | The usual compromise. Some preparation, less staging |
Unannounced | No notice | Social compliance and working conditions, where preparation is the problem |
For a first verification, semi-announced is usually right. You want the right people present, and you do not want a week of staging.
Commission your own
This matters more than the type you choose.
A report the supplier hands you tells you that a report exists. Falsified and borrowed audit reports are a known problem, and presenting another factory's audit as your own is a documented pattern.
Commission the audit yourself, from a firm you selected, and have the report sent to you directly. SGS, Bureau Veritas, Intertek, TÜV and QIMA all operate across India, alongside many smaller regional firms.
If a supplier resists a paid third-party audit that you are funding, that is information. There is no cost to them and no reason to object.
What an audit will not tell you
Worth being clear about, because audits get oversold.
Whether your order will be good. That is sample approval and pre-shipment inspection.
Whether they will hit your deadline. Capacity on audit day is not capacity in your production month.
What happens at their partners. If printing, embroidery or filling goes to a partner, auditing the main facility covers none of it. Ask which steps are subcontracted before deciding what to audit.
Whether they are financially stable. A different check entirely.
Whether they will still be doing this in a year.
What to do instead if you cannot audit
For a small first order, a full audit is sometimes disproportionate. The workable substitutes, in descending order of strength:
A paid third-party verification audit. A few hundred dollars, and still the strongest option.
An unscheduled, interactive video walkthrough. Ask them to walk to a specific machine, or show your order in progress. Not a pre-recorded tour, since rendered and AI-generated factory footage now exists.
A physical sample carrying something specific to you, checked against your written specification rather than against your impression.
A pre-shipment inspection on the finished goods. Often better value than auditing the factory, because it checks the thing you are actually buying.
Questions to ask before commissioning
Which steps happen in this facility, and which go to partners?
How many workers are on site? This determines the day count and therefore the cost
Do I need social compliance, or just verification and capability?
Will the report come directly to me from the firm?
Is a follow-up visit included if corrective actions are raised, or billed separately?
What is the travel charge, and is it billed as man-days?
Or let us do it
Every builder in our network has been interviewed against the same question set, and we record what we could not verify as clearly as what we could. Where an audit is the right next step, we will say so rather than listing them as vetted.
Tell us what you are making and what volume, and we will tell you what level of checking it actually warrants.
FAQ
How much does a factory audit cost in India?
A basic verification package runs around $220 plus travel, and an extensive one around $440 plus travel. Standard man-day rates fall roughly between $188 and $280, with all-inclusive models near $398 and specialist tiers above $900. Regulated GMP audits run around €800 per audit day. SMETA also carries a programme fee of about £185 separate from the auditor's invoice.
How long does a factory audit take?
A basic verification is about one man-day and a technical audit about two. Social compliance audits scale with workforce: one day for up to 100 workers, two for up to 500, three for up to 1,000 and four for up to 2,000, plus roughly half a day of report writing and often half a day of billed travel. Reports usually arrive within one to three business days.
What is the difference between a factory audit and an inspection?
An audit assesses the factory: its legitimacy, systems and capability, usually before you commit. An inspection checks your actual goods before they ship. An audited factory can still produce a bad order, because the two answer different questions. Most small brands need a light audit once and an inspection each order.
Do I need a SMETA or BSCI audit?
Only if you are making ethical claims, selling to a retailer that requires one, or carrying brand risk in labour conditions. A small direct-to-consumer brand ordering 100 units usually does not, and a small workshop is unlikely to fund one. A basic verification audit is normally the right tool at that scale.
Can I use the audit report my supplier already has?
Treat it as a starting point, not as verification. Falsified and borrowed reports are a known problem, including presenting another factory's audit as their own. Commission your own from a firm you selected and have the report sent to you directly. A supplier with nothing to hide has no reason to object to an audit you are funding.
What if I cannot afford a full audit?
A pre-shipment inspection on the finished goods is often better value for a first order, because it checks what you are actually buying. Failing that, an unscheduled and interactive video walkthrough plus a physical sample carrying something specific to you, checked against your written specification.
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