u/InTheDarkDancing wrote (the comment Michael replied to):
Yes this is why I think people need to be more careful when discussing CIRR. It's great to be skeptical but keep in mind no one's actually disproved anything CIRR has reported -- it's all speculation, and frequently the speculation is done by people with conflicts of interests (i
u/michaelnovati replied · · edited ★ FEATURED
1. The reports are audited annually after the fact
2. The CPA who signed the last audited report said "Direct request of confirmation from Graduates regarding Employment outcomes andobservation of LinkedIn profiles" [Link](https://static.spacecrafted.com/b13328575ece40d8853472b9e0cf2047/r/eb6e615ccddf47e9a891a9c69f223025/1/Codesmith%20Los%20Angeles%20Full-Stack%20Software%20Development%20Audited-AUP%20H2%202020.pdf)
So sure it's audited but it's also self reported by people and uses LinkedIn as a source to see if people have jobs or not. The auditing is to make sure humans put the right numbers in the right boxes, not to audit that people's salaries are what they say they are.
Read through the entire [CIRR Standard](https://static.spacecrafted.com/b13328575ece40d8853472b9e0cf2047/r/aa1e118858a548ec9484b7b714e694c6/1/CIRR%20Standards%202021%20%28rev%202020-07-07%29.pdf) and it's extremely not specific about the evidence required for base salaries and the auditors are not required to go above and beyond CIRR standard to sleuth those out. They are similar asking people "What is your base salary" over email and confirming it matches the worksheet!
I'm 10000% not saying that this unreasonable, I just think it's very reasonable to not take CIRR as the one and only gold standard.
It's a fantastic resource to help trust the outcomes of people who use it! It's better than many other attempts! It's not the one and only gold standard as people have claimed.
I have learned the hard way that "audited" doesn't necessarily mean what you think and it's on you as an educated consumer to do your homework.