ISO 9001 Audit

The ISO 9001 audit is an essential part of becoming and staying ISO 9001 certified. It will help you:

• Ensure your Quality Management System complies with the ISO 9001 standard
• Identify and address any issues with your Quality Management System
• Identify potential improvements to your system
• To outline and take corrective action to non-conformances to the ISO 9001 Standard
• Ensure your organisation takes appropriate action to meet its quality objectives.

An ISO 9001 audit is a systematic, independent, objective and documented process for gathering facts. These will help you identify areas for improvement and ensure you have best practice processes in place.

Driving continual improvement is a key part of ISO 9001. That’s why the standard recommends you carry out regular internal and external audits.

What to expect from an ISO 9001 audit?

During an ISO 9001 audit, Citation ISO Certifications auditors will review the company’s processes, policies, and procedures to ensure they align with the requirements outlined in the ISO 9001 Standard.
The audit aims to identify any non-conformities or areas for improvement within the QMS. This allows you and your business to set up corrective actions and control measures to stay compliant from your ISO audit.

Internal ISO 9001 audits should be formal, impartial, objective, and organised in accordance with your internal audit procedures. They should inspect your company’s processes and check that your policies and procedures comply with those documented within your Quality Management System.

ISO 9001 internal auditors find that using a checklist to record evidence helps them to perform consistent audits as well as evaluate the extent to which the process they are looking at aligns with the documentation.

By looking at how things are done in your quality management system and comparing them with how they should be done in line with ISO 9001, you can identify areas for improvement.

How often should an ISO 9001 audit be undertaken?

You should record these observations and review the audit results at regular management review meetings, which should occur between one and four times a year.

FIND OUT MORE ABOUT AUDITS

Our consultants are experienced at auditing companies across many sectors. They can use these auditing skills to help you check that your suppliers have the right processes in place to fulfil your needs. In other words, they will check that your company is complying with the standard as well as following the best practice policies and processes for effective quality management.

What’s the difference between an internal ISO 9001 audit and external audit?

Internal ISO 9001 audits are performed by the business on their own systems as part of the maintenance of its quality management system. They look at individual systems and processes, looking to confirm that they are still fit for purpose.

For smaller businesses, or those struggling to prepare for an external ISO 9001 Audit, it is possible for a third party to visit and carry out the Internal Audits on their behalf.

An external ISO 9001 audit ensures impartiality, these are performed by a nominated external third party at various intervals throughout the year, before and in addition to the external ISO certification audit that’s performed by your ISO certification provider.

FIND OUT MORE ABOUT AUDITS

Auditing your quality management system in line with the ISO 9001 Standard offers several benefits for an organisation.

These benefits include:

Compliance with International Standards:

When you conduct an internal audit of ISO 9001 it helps your business stay compliant with the requirements of the Standard. As ISO 9001 is an internationally recognised Standard for quality management systems it demonstrates a commitment to meeting these standards on a global scale.

Improved operational efficiency:

During an ISO 9001 audit, a thorough evaluation of an organisation’s processes is conducted. This assessment helps identify areas for improvement, leading to enhanced operational efficiency and streamlined processes. By focusing on continual improvement, businesses can improve upon their operations and increase productivity.

Supplier pitching and selection

ISO 9001 shows potential suppliers that they can trust you when you have undergone a successful ISO 9001 audit. This factor alone can be advantageous in attracting suppliers and partners.

Find out more about the ISO 9001 Benefits

Citation ISO Certification was founded in 1993, since then we have helped thousands of businesses with their ISO certification and staying compliant which has seen us win numerous service awards. So far, we’ve helped our clients put in place over 30,000 management systems, let us help your business too.