B&M has become the latest retailer to agree to limit forensic auditing of suppliers.
The retailer, which was added to the list of those policed by Groceries Code Adjudicator Christine Tacon in November, was revealed today as having signed up to a voluntary agreement to limit auditing of suppliers’ trading accounts to no more than the current and previous two financial years.
It joins Waitrose and Ocado which The Grocer revealed in June were signing up to the agreement, alongside the list of eight original signatories who agreed to ban the practice in 2014.
The move by B&M means that among those policed by Tacon, only Sainsbury’s is not signed up to the forensic auditing pledge.
Tacon said the move meant further protection for suppliers who previously faced supermarkets using forensic audits “proactively to make claims against suppliers for historic invoicing errors or omissions”.
“Suppliers were being asked for significant sums of money, with the burden of proof falling on them to show that any discrepancies were not valid claims,” she said.
“The documentary audit trail was often complex and difficult to piece together after a long period of time. Suppliers reported that deductions would be applied by retailers with little or no notice.”
Meanwhile the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has provisionally ruled that structural changes undergone by Ocado in August 2019 mean Ocado Group plc should be de-designated from the list of those under GSCOP.
It asked for the move on the back of the £750m deal between M&S and Ocado, arguing that from 5 August 2019 it had no involvement in the grocery retail side of the businesses.
Under the partnership, M&S became a 50-50 shareholder of the separate Ocado Retail Group, an arm’s length body that has since been designated under GSCOP.
The CMA reported today there had been no objection raised by suppliers to the change in designation.
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