Audit extensions as we transition to Release 5.1
04 February 2025COUNTER has always had rules for granting audit extensions. As report providers transition between Release 5 and Release 5.1, we recognise there needs to be some flexibility. In this tech support post, Tasha explains how we plan to manage that flexibility.
The usual rules around extensions
Section 9 of the Code of Practice explains that we can offer two types of audit extension:
- Delayed seeding. ‘Seeding’ describes the actions auditors take on a publisher platform to create usage activity. This is then used to generate COUNTER reports for audit tests. If a report provider shares their Validation Tool results and explains what they are doing to fix the problems identified by the tool then seeding can be delayed. We can grant one extension of up to three months before seeding starts.
- Extended fix. Auditors often find problems with the COUNTER reports that are generated after seeding. When that happens they issue an Interim Report. The provider then has three months to fix the problems before the auditors re-test. If an Interim Report has identified serious problems, we can grant one extension of the fix period of up to three months (i.e. six months total fix time).
More about delayed seeding for a first R5.1 audit
It’s not possible for auditors to work on every report provider simultaneously. Therefore we have assumed that most R5.1 audits will start one year after the last R5 audit was seeded. That means if a report provider’s last R5 audit was seeded in February 2024, we expect the first R5.1 audit to be seeded in February 2025. We know we are likely to need to make exceptions to that rule. Delays might arise in three types of situation:
Situation one: R5.1 reports are live
Where a report provider has already made their R5.1 reports live, and updated their Registry listing, the usual rules apply. If they send us their Validation Tool results and explain what they are doing to fix the problems identified by the tool, we can grant one extension of up to three months before seeding starts.
The report provider’s platform records in the Registry will show a ‘Currently valid audit’ flag against Release 5 until 12 months from the date of seeding of the last R5 audit. At that point the flag will show ‘Audit expired’. The platform record will also show ‘Upcoming audit’ against R5.1.
Situation two: R5.1 reports are scheduled to go live
Where a report provider is nearly ready to go live with R5.1, we can grant one extension of up to three months before seeding starts. This happens on the conditions that:
- They have shared their Validation Tool results with us and explained what they are doing to fix any errors identified by the automated tests; and
- They have provided us with R5.1 information for the Registry. This must include the date from which R5.1 reports will be available to report consumers where that date is within the extension period.
The report provider’s platform records in the Registry will show a ‘Currently valid audit’ flag against Release 5 until 12 months from the date of seeding of the last R5 audit. At that point the flag will show ‘Audit expired’. The platform record will also show ‘Upcoming audit’ against R5.1, once their R5.1 is live and the R5.1 section of their Registry record is no longer blank.
Situation three: R5.1 reports will not be live for more than three months
We know not all report providers are going to be able to meet the deadline for delivery of R5.1 reports. (The deadline is January 2025 reports, delivery by 28 Feb 2025). Some report providers are unsure when they will be able to deliver R5.1 reports. In some cases they have not yet started automated testing with the validation tool. In these cases, we will not grant extensions on the audit start date.
The report provider’s platform records in the Registry will show a ‘Currently valid audit’ flag against Release 5 until 12 months from the date of seeding of the last R5 audit, at which point the flag will show ‘Audit expired’. The platform record will not show any audit flags against R5.1, and the R5.1 section of the record will remain blank.