The international forum from Granada this summer brought many wonderful things, amongst them, the proposal to create a new working group to cover a very relevant topic within the participants of the frum, and that’s the role of accountancy firms and labour consultancies in the management of ethical trade.
Labour consultancies and accountancy firms play an essential role, especially with small and medium-sized companies, in that they require from their services to comply with labour laws and receive advice on it (often, due to the lack of resources or qualified team to cover this particular area of the business).
During the event, we surveyed the group of attendees to evaluate their ideas and suggestions regarding the direction this new group could take. Inundated with suggestions, we ended up the event with loads of interest, ideas and a total of 12 people willing to bring this new working group forward.
To date, we have celebrated two meetings with the working group, one in July and the last one in September, aiming at defining the starting point of the group, potential goals of our work, stakeholders to be invited to participate, etc. One of the goals discussed has been the creation of training materials such as guides, manuals, in-person seminars and online webinars.
We believe the role of labour consultancies and accountancy firms, and their involvement in different areas directly related to ethical trade, is key for many businesses in the agri-food sector. The group is starting to crawl, focusing our efforts in finding labour consultancies and accountancy firms willing to participate and to support us in defining our direction and context, and evaluate their perception regarding different areas, such as their role within this context, the training and understanding needed or the implications or ramifications of ethical trade areas in the supply chain.
If this is a topic of interest, we invite you to participate by getting in touch with us through the new Ethical Trade Forums Association email: afce@conexionsocial.com.
Lastly, we encourage you to take part in the Ethical Trade Forums Association. All the information you need to become a member can be found here.