• Introduction
• Prepare your documentation

Introduction

To prepare your self-assessment for audit, you are expected to provide clear, comprehensive answers and supporting evidence for each applicable sub-requirement. You can find newly updated evidence examples for each Impact Topic in the Impact Topic Evidence examples. These articles list examples of evidence companies can provide to showcase their impact. The examples of evidence provided are meant to guide companies, and are not exhaustive. You may have other types of evidence than the ones listed in the articles.

Prepare your documentation

Documentation is central to the audit process. Companies are expected to provide evidence demonstrating compliance with each applicable sub-requirement in the B Lab Standards. All documentation is uploaded during the self-assessment phase, and doing this early helps ensure your responses are accurate, consistent, and well supported. For guidance on uploading documents, refer to the article How to Upload Documents in the Self-Assessment.

However, the audit period also provides an opportunity to address any remaining gaps or clarifications. If a document is too sensitive to upload, a comment should be left to indicate that it will be shared during the live audits, at which time it must be readily available to present. 

Before the audit, review both the Compliance Criteria and Clarifying Compliance Criteria for each applicable sub-requirement. These criteria are binding and describe what auditors will verify. They are available in the B Lab Standards PDFs and within the Self-Assessment tool.

When preparing supporting documentation consider the following:

• Completeness – Does the documentation address all elements of the Compliance Criteria and Clarifying Compliance Criteria?

• Relevance – Does the evidence clearly relate to the specific requirement being assessed?

• Integration – Does the documentation demonstrate that the requirement is meaningfully implemented, rather than addressed in a superficial or “box-ticking” way?

Evidence may take many forms, including:

• Policies and procedures

• Contracts and agreements

• Commitments and public statements

• Approvals from leadership or governing bodies

• Strategies, plans, and roadmaps

• Assessments, monitoring processes, and analyses

• Data tracking and performance records

• Publicly available information, such as website pages or reports

For examples of evidence for each sub-requirement, please refer to the Impact Topic Evidence examples.

Common documentation issues include missing information, submitting documents that do not directly address the requirement, or adopting policies that are not embedded in actual business practices. Taking time to clearly map each piece of evidence to the relevant requirement can significantly reduce follow-up questions during the audit.