E.4 Audit Conclusion

If the auditor identifies one or more issues, the content provider MUST resolve them and pass the audit within 3 months to maintain COUNTER-compliant status. Please see Section 9.3 in the COUNTER R5 Code of Practice.

The auditor will provide to the COUNTER Project Director a summary report including, as a minimum, the following information:

• The name of the content provider

• The audit period and date

• The usage report(s) tested

• For each usage report tested, the test results, indicated as a % of the reported figures over the expected

• A summary of any material issues noted with the format/structure, data integrity, and/or delivery of the content provider’s reports. If there are no issues, a PASS should be noted.

• A clear indication of the outcome of the audit: PASS, QUALIFIED PASS, or FAIL.

• Any other comments that relate to the audit and are worthy of consideration by the COUNTER Executive Committee.

Sample Audit Report:

Content Provider	<name>
Audit Period	<mmm/yyyy>		Date	<mmm/yyyy>
Report	Usage Activity Result	Report Format		Data Integrity	Delivery		Opinion	Comments
		Tabular	SUSHI/JSON		Reports Interface	SUSHI Server
TR_J1	100%	PASS	PASS	PASS	PASS	PASS	PASS
TR_B1	112%	PASS	REPORT TOTALS included	PASS	PASS	PASS	FAIL	SUSHI versions of reports must not have totals.

A content provider may need to submit multiple audit reports, some of which may PASS and some of which may FAIL. The results of each report’s tests should be submitted on a separate line. For a content provider to maintain COUNTER-compliant status, each audited report must PASS.