It is recognized that the main source of revenue for SM BEE Rating Agency is that of our Client paying for our services and that this is a potential threat to impartiality. Our fee structure will be based upon the degree of responsibility and skill involved and the time necessarily occupied on the work, plus the reimbursement of outlays. We will contract our fees in advance with our clients and will not allow the fact that the payment of fees by clients becomes a threat to impartiality.
In order to obtain and maintain confidence, SM BEE Rating Agency will at all times be able to demonstrate that our decisions are based on objective evidence and that our decisions have not been improperly influenced by other interests or by other parties.
Threats to impartiality include:
- Self-interest threats – threats that arise from a person or enterprise acting in their own interest, for example, financial self-interest;
- Self-review threats – threats that arise from a person or enterprise reviewing the work done by them. For example evaluating the B-BBEE compliance of a Client for whom SM BEE Rating Agency may have provided consultancy, or a staff member or director reviewing his own work in an appeal or complaint procedure;
- Familiarity (or trust) threats – threats that arise from a person or body being too familiar with or trusting towards another person instead of seeking and evaluating objective evidence on which to base the verification conclusion or decision;
- Intimidation threats – threats that arise from a person or enterprise having perception or experience of being coerced openly or secretively, such as a threat to be replaced or reported to a supervisor if he does not do what the person who is coercing him/her wants.
Consultancy – means the provision of any service that assists a measured entity to implement a B-BBEE Strategy or any element of a B-BBEE Strategy. This includes implementation not limited to Ownership, Management Control, Skills Development, Enterprise, and Supplier Development, and Socio-Economic development or any element prescribed in terms of a B-BBEE Sector Code of Good Practice. With reference to the avoidance of conflicts of interest, any service of a consulting body / or consultancy performed by any personnel of the SMBEE Rating Agency that was provided to the measured entity and the same measured entity is verified by the SMBEE Rating Agency would be considered a contravention of the requirements of SANAS R47-03 and our Impartiality Policy.
Consultancy includes but is not limited to specific solutions and assisting the measured entity to implement the proposed solutions.
Examples of consultancy include, but are not limited to the following:
(a) Coaching or facilitating the B-BBEE process on behalf of the measured entity towards the development and implementation of activities leading to B-BBEE compliance.
(b) Preparing or producing manuals, handbooks, or procedures.
(c) Participating in the decision-making process regarding the management system.
(d) Giving specific advice or scenarios on the development and implementation of the management system for eventual verification; and
(e) Conducting a scenario planning/gap analysis plan for the Measured Entity.
Where an analyst has been linked to a measured entity either as a consultant or an employee in the previous 4 years, the particular employee will be required to declare such previous relationships through Verification Disclosure Form [SM-VD-FOR-04] and in this case, the Verification manager will have to appoint another analyst who is completely independent.
Where the identified possible conflict of interest results from a relationship with one of the executive directors or shareholders of SM BEE Rating Agency, then SM BEE Rating Agency will withdraw from the verification and inform the measured entity accordingly and the client will then be advised to approach other Verification Agencies to perform their verification.
