Day 1: Audit Program Governance and Principles

Audit Principles under ISO 19011

• Apply integrity, fairness, and due care
• Protect confidentiality independence and evidence-based judgment
• Use risks/opportunities when planning audits
• Analyze situations testing auditor conduct

Managing the Audit Program

• Set program objectives by process risk
• Schedule audits using performance/change history
• Allocate competencies/time across scope areas
• Prepare an annual management-system audit program

Audit Team Competence

• Identify system, process, sector knowledge
• Select team leaders for engagement scope
• Address capability gaps through technical expertise
• Build an auditor competence matrix

Day 2: Engagement Planning and Preparation

Audit Objective, Scope, and Criteria

• Define evaluation scope, location, timing
• Select ISO requirements, policies, internal criteria
• Document justified scope exclusions
• Prepare a focused audit plan

Reviewing Preliminary Information

• Read process maps, results, complaints
• Identify changes/weaknesses requiring attention
• Design sample trail following process flow
• Prepare open-ended audit questions

Opening Practical Meeting

• Explain purpose schedule and communication arrangements
• Confirm access to people/information
• Address auditee concerns without weakening independence
• Simulate a quality-audit opening meeting

Day 3: Conducting the Audit and Gathering Evidence

Interviews and Observation

• Use questions revealing actual practice
• Compare explanations with records/observations
• Avoid leading or arguing with auditees
• Conduct a concise process interview

Sampling and Audit Trails

• Choose samples aligned with purpose/risk
• Trace transactions from initiation through closure
• Expand samples when meaningful patterns emerge
• Document evidence trails clearly

Evaluating Conformity and Effectiveness

• Verify fulfillment over document existence alone
• Assess whether processes achieve intended results
• Distinguish observations from nonconformities
• Resolve conflicting evidence within audit team

Day 4: Findings, Reporting, and Corrective Action

Writing Practical Nonconformities

• State requirement evidence and gap clearly
• Avoid presuming cause before formal analysis
• Use objective language free from accusation
• Edit three sample audit findings

Closing Meeting and Report

• Present conclusions according to significance
• Confirm understanding without negotiating established facts
• Record unresolved disagreement transparently
• Prepare an executive audit summary

Nonconformity Cause Analysis and Corrective Action

• Look for system causes, not errors
• Select action preventing recurrence
• Assign owners dates and effectiveness evidence
• Review an inadequate corrective-action plan

Day 5: Follow-Up, Compliance, and Audit Program Improvement

Conducting Closure Verification

• Review implementation evidence after appropriate period
• Test recurring risk and nonconformity patterns
• Reject closure without evidence of effectiveness
• Simulate follow-up on a recurring issue

Connecting Audit with Compliance

• Identify regulatory requirements within quality scope
• Escalate material breaches through appropriate route
• Feed monitoring results into audit planning
• Build a shared follow-up register

Improving the Audit Program

• Analyze coverage, findings, delays, recurrence
• Review team competence and report quality
• Adjust scheduling for emerging risks
• Prepare an audit-program improvement plan

 

• Audit applications aligned with ISO 19011:2026
• Interviews and sampling that follow processes end to end
• Nonconformity and corrective-action writing exercises
• A complete audit-cycle simulation from opening through follow-up