ISO 9001 Lead Auditor Training

MODULE 5   Audit Activities
5.1.3 Determining Feasibility Of The Audit
Audit feasibility should be determined taking into account such factors such as:
a) Sufficient and appropriate information for planning the audit
b) Adequate cooperation from the auditee
c) Adequate time and resources

ISO 9000 Lead Auditor Training - The team leader, through the initial appointment and briefing by the Registrar or program manager, will have some idea of the scale of the audit. For the sake of example, assume eight staff days are required to actually carry out the audit. The team leader could decide to do the audit alone and spend eight days in a company, or they could have a team of two and spend four days, or a team of four and spend two days (that may be preferred by the auditee management). The objective is normally to complete the audit in the shortest possible time.

In a second party audit, the auditing organization will decide the resources and time. In a third party audit, the auditee (who has to pay all the costs) will seek assurances that the costs are justified.

Where the audit is not feasible, an alternative should be proposed to the audit client, in consultation with the auditee.

5.1.4 Selecting The Audit Team
The Registrar and the team leader will select the audit team, following criteria defined by the Registrar. Selection criteria may include the following:
a) Audit objectives, scope, criteria and estimated duration of the audit
b) Whether it is a combined or joint audit
c) Overall competence of audit team to achieve audit objectives
d) Statutory, regulatory, contractual and accreditation/registration requirements, as applicable
e) Independence of the audit team and avoiding conflict of interest
f) Ability of audit team to interact with each other and with auditee
g) Language of the audit and an understanding of auditee’s social and cultural characteristics
h) The need for a technical expert
i) Availability of competent audit team members

Auditors-in-training may be included in the audit team, but should not audit without direction or guidance.

Both the audit client and auditee can request the replacement of particular audit team members on reasonable grounds based on the principles of auditing described earlier. Examples of reasonable grounds include conflict of interest (such as audit team being a former employee of auditee or providing consultancy services to the auditee) and previous unethical behavior. The team leader or program manager should be made aware of such grounds and they should resolve the issue with the audit client and auditee before making any decision to replace the audit team member.

ISO 9000 Auditor Training - Any team of auditors is likely to split up to audit individually. Each auditor will need an escort and each auditor will take up auditee management time.
Although the auditors are working separately, they share a common objective and will meet regularly to review progress. At these points, one auditor may ask another to check on specific areas, documents, records, or systems, and in this way, the team will “cross fertilize”. If the teams were in there for a short time only, there would be little chance to do this.

It can be seen, therefore, that either two people for four days, or four people for two days, is likely to be the optimum. The choice will depend on auditor availability, auditee preference, and cost.

In the ISO 9001 registration audit, the auditee generally pays for the resources needed to audit them. The Registrar therefore needs to be competitive and yet still effective. Current trends are for two or three people to audit as separate groups of one.

ISO 9000 Training - In second party audits, the Auditor Company is paying for the audit. They employ the auditors. In the past, it has been common for audit groups to have two people auditing together since there are a number of advantages in having two people working together, for example, corroboration, some “independence” of the second person, timekeeper, special expertise, note taking, can take over from the leader, etc. However, as costs have risen, it has become more typical for audits to be carried out by individual auditors.

In internal audits it has been typical, and remains so, to have one person auditing alone.

ISO 9001 FAQ provides answers to commonly asked questions about the ISO 9000 family of quality management standards.