Accessibility Compliance Audits Across Industries
Independent, audit-led digital accessibility assessments for regulated sectors — built for the compliance requirements, risk profiles, and regulatory obligations that define each industry.
Independent, audit-led digital accessibility assessments for regulated sectors — built for the compliance requirements, risk profiles, and regulatory obligations that define each industry.
Accessibility regulations do not distinguish between industries. But enforcement priorities, risk exposure, regulatory mandates, and digital asset complexity do. The same WCAG 2.2 failure carries different compliance weight depending on the sector in which it occurs. A broken form field on a financial disclosure portal may constitute an investor protection violation under SEBI. The identical gap on a government e-service platform may violate a statutory obligation under GIGW 3.0 and the RPwD Act. On an e-commerce checkout flow, it may trigger an ADA lawsuit in the US.
Accord Compliance conducts independent digital accessibility audits across sectors where compliance failures carry the highest legal, financial, and reputational cost. Our audit methodology remains consistent — grounded in WCAG 2.2, ISO/IEC 40500, and sector-specific regulatory frameworks. What changes is the compliance context, regulatory mapping, and risk prioritisation applied to each organisation.
Methodology & Independence
Our audit work spans the sectors most directly exposed to digital accessibility obligations under Indian and global law:
The financial sector faces the sharpest regulatory scrutiny on digital accessibility in India. SEBI has explicitly mandated accessible digital platforms for all regulated intermediaries — and investor-facing portals, trading platforms, AMC websites, insurance portals, and disclosure documents are all in scope. Beyond India, BFSI organisations with global operations must also contend with ADA obligations for US-facing services and the European Accessibility Act for EU market presence.
Technology companies operating internationally face overlapping obligations under ADA (US), EAA (EU), AODA (Canada), Section 508 (US federal), and India's RPwD Act. Enterprise procurement teams are increasingly requiring third-party accessibility certification as a vendor qualification condition — meaning audit documentation directly affects sales outcomes.For SaaS companies, an independent WCAG audit supports VPAT generation, government procurement qualification, and enterprise deal compliance requirements.
Healthcare digital accessibility is unique in its stakes. When a patient with a visual impairment cannot navigate a prescription management portal, or a person with a cognitive disability cannot complete an appointment booking flow, the failure is not merely technical — it is a patient safety issue with direct regulatory dimensions. Healthcare organisations in India and globally face growing obligations to ensure digital services are accessible. Patient portals, telemedicine platforms, laboratory report systems, EHR interfaces, and health information content are all within scope.
For government and public sector organisations in India, digital accessibility is a legal mandate — not a discretionary improvement. The RPwD Act 2016, GIGW 3.0, and IS 17802 collectively impose enforceable accessibility obligations on public digital services. Despite clear statutory requirements, many government and PSU platforms remain inaccessible, creating legal exposure and citizen service gaps. Government technology vendors and e-governance platform providers operating under NIC frameworks or Digital India mandates are also within scope of GIGW and RPwD obligations.
No sector faces more active accessibility litigation globally than e-commerce. In the US, thousands of ADA Title III lawsuits are filed annually against online retailers — checkout flows, product listing pages, image alt text, and form accessibility are the most commonly cited failures. The European Accessibility Act, enforceable from June 2025, extends mandatory accessibility requirements to e-commerce businesses serving EU consumers. In India, consumer-facing platforms are subject to RPwD Act obligations. Platforms with US or EU operations face compounding legal exposure across jurisdictions.
Accessibility auditing is not a single activity applied uniformly. The weight of a finding, the urgency of remediation, and the audience for the audit report all change depending on the sector.
Consider an inaccessible form — a text input field with no associated label, invisible to screen readers. This single WCAG 1.3.1 failure has entirely different implications by sector:
On a SEBI-regulated investor portal: potential investor protection violation, regulatory exposure under SEBI circulars
On an e-commerce checkout: ADA Title III litigation risk in the US, EAA non-compliance in EU markets
On a government e-service platform: statutory violation under GIGW 3.0 and the RPwD Act
On a healthcare patient portal: patient safety risk and ADA Section 504 exposure for federally funded providers
On a SaaS enterprise product: failed enterprise procurement qualification, blocked government contract
*An audit that surfaces a finding without this regulatory mapping gives teams the technical detail but not the compliance rationale. Accord Compliance reports are structured for both audiences — technical teams who need to fix the issue, and compliance stakeholders who need to understand the risk.
In regulated industries — BFSI, government, healthcare — the credibility of a compliance assessment depends on its independence. An accessibility audit conducted by the same team that built or remediated the platform cannot be presented to regulators, internal auditors, or legal counsel as an independent verification. Accord Compliance is structured as a pure audit institution: we do not build, remediate, or manage the platforms we assess. This is a governance requirement, not a commercial choice.
About our audit independence structure
Sector Risk Scoping
Accord Compliance audits map findings simultaneously to SEBI requirements, RPwD Act obligations, and GIGW/IS 17802 standards against a WCAG 2.2 technical baseline. One engagement, one report — all India frameworks covered.
Manual-First Accessibility Testing
All audits are conducted by trained accessibility auditors using manual testing and assistive technology validation — not automated scans alone. This ensures findings reflect real user impact, not tool limitations.
Risk-Graded, Compliance-Ready Reporting
Every audit report is structured for your sector's compliance stakeholders — legal teams, compliance officers, regulators, and board-level governance functions. Findings are prioritised by regulatory risk, not just technical severity.
Independence by Design
We do not bundle audits with remediation services. This separation ensures our findings remain objective, uninfluenced, and defensible — regardless of what your development or vendor teams have built.
Digital accessibility is governed by a growing body of law across jurisdictions. The frameworks below represent the primary regulatory obligations that Accord Compliance audits are designed to verify and document.
Every Accord Compliance industry audit results in a formal report package structured for the organisation's compliance, legal, and technical stakeholders. Deliverables vary by sector and scope but typically include:
WCAG 2.2 conformance audit report — full scope, per digital asset
Regulatory compliance mapping — findings cross-referenced to applicable laws and circulars
Severity-graded non-conformance list prioritised by regulatory risk.
Evidence documentation — screenshots, reproduction steps, code references for each finding
Executive summary — compliance posture and risk exposure overview for leadership.
Remediation guidance — prioritised by regulatory risk and user impact
Sector-specific compliance documentation, SEBI summary, GIGW checklist, VPAT support, etc
* Audit reports are designed to be defensible — to regulators, internal auditors, legal counsel, procurement teams, and board governance committees.
Accessibility Audit ServicesAccord Compliance does not bundle audit services with remediation. This separation is fundamental to audit independence.
When the organisation that finds accessibility failures also sells the service to fix them, the independence of the finding is compromised. Regulators, internal auditors, and legal teams increasingly recognise this conflict. Our audit reports are structured as standalone compliance documents — the remediation that follows is the responsibility of your development team or a separately engaged vendor.
Where organisations require guidance on remediation prioritisation and technical approach, Accord Compliance offers this as a distinct advisory service — scoped and delivered independently of the audit itself.
Or View Audit Methodology
Whether you operate in finance, healthcare, technology, government, or consumer platforms, accessibility is no longer a design preference. It is a compliance perimeter.
