Reliable information Circulation audits have been conduted for more than 50 years. Today, audits are carried out for more than 400 publications every year. Audits are performed according to the same principles for all publications. The audit data is impartial and it is monitored.

In Finland, circulation audits performed in a consistent way have been carried out for newspapers and periodicals for more than 50 years.

Purpose of the audits

The aim of the audits performed by the FABC is to determine the average circulation of publications sold by validated audit period, including those delivered according to a subscriber mailing list and those sold as single copies.

A title is a printed publication that appears at least four times a year, contains editorial material and is not a product catalogue, price list or the like.

General principles

The FABC's audits are based on the following principles:

• Audits are performed for all publications following the same rules, ratified by the Board of the FABC.
• The audit period is always at least one calendar year.
• An audit is carried out by an impartial auditor who has been authorised by the Board of the FABC.
• An audit certificate is issued for each audit, always according to the same format and signed by the auditor and a person authorised by the publisher.
• Auditing by the FABC is inspected by persons appointed by the Board of the FABC.
• A non-profit based fee is charged in accordance with the current rates of the FABC.

The audit figures are public. They can be found for each publication audited on our website no later than the official date of publication, which is around the end of March. During the year, a total of more than 400 separate circulation audits are conducted.

International practices have been followed when developing circulation audit processes. These and other matters relating to circulation audit processes are handled by the Audit Sub-Committee, among others. The Audit Sub-Committee comprises representatives of publishers of newspapers and periodicals, and members of the Association of Finnish Advertisers and the Finnish Association of Marketing Communication Agencies.