Section 7 - ISO 19011 - Page 2

Collecting and verifying information:

Information and data relevant to the audit including information relating to interfaces between functions, activities and processes should be collected by appropriate sampling and interviewing techniques and must be verified before being recorded. Only information that is verifiable may be objective evidence. All audit objective evidence should be recorded.

A question I'm asked "Is verbal/oral evidence considered to be objective evidence?" Yes, if the person being interviewed is responsible and accountable for the activity the statement refers to. However, before you record any information from the exchange, you must verify that what you heard is what the interviewee said.

The audit evidence is based on samples of the available information. Therefore, there is always an element of uncertainty in auditing, and all those involved should be aware of this uncertainty.

Generating audit findings:

Objective evidence should be evaluated against the audit criteria to generate the audit findings. Audit findings can indicate conformity or nonconformity with audit criteria. In other words, findings are just relevant audit information. Findings must be determined as okay or not. It isn't unusual to hear an auditor that has been auditing for years to refer to a nonconformity as a finding. Nonconformities were commonly called findings when the first edition (1987) of the ISO 9000 standards came into existence.

When specified by the audit objectives, audit findings can identify an opportunity for improvement (OFI). An example of an OFI might be when an operation is currently functioning at a minimally acceptable level but shows signs of deterioration. The audit team should meet as needed to review audit findings at appropriate stages during the audit. If more than one auditor finds the same type of an OFI in different operations the OFI may need to be elevated to a nonconformity.

Preparing audit conclusions:

The audit team needs to get together prior to the closing meeting to:

a) Review the audit findings against the audit objectives,

b) Agree on audit conclusions, always taking into account the uncertainty inherent in the audit process,

c) Prepare recommendations, if specified by the audit objectives, and

d) Discuss audit follow-up, if included in the audit plan.

Conducting the closing meeting:

Although many companies do not conduct opening meetings in their internal audits, a closing meeting should be. Always have a list of attendees and topics presented.

A closing meeting, chaired by the audit team leader, should be held to present the audit findings and conclusions in such a manner that they are understood and acknowledged by the auditee, and to agree, if appropriate, on the timeframe for the auditee to present a corrective action plan.

The people attending the closing meeting should include the auditee, and may also include the audit client and other parties. If necessary, the audit team leader should advise the auditee of problems from the audit that may effect the reliability of the audit conclusions. For example, there was minimal audit evidence to reach a comfortable level of confidence for a conclusion. The evidence that was available appeared satisfactory but, it's volume was very small.

In a small company, the closing meeting may consist of just communicating the audit findings and conclusions.

Section 1. ISO 19011 Scope reference and definitions

    Section 2. ISO 19011 Principles of auditing

    Section 3. ISO 19011 Managing an audit program

    Section 4. ISO 19011 Audit program implementation

    Section 5. ISO 19011 Audit activities

    Section 6. ISO 19011 Preparing for onsite activities

    Section 7. ISO 19011 Conducting onsite activities

    Section 8. ISO 19011 What the auditor is looking for

    Section 9  ISO 19011 Audit reporting

    Section 10. ISO 19011 Audit techniques

    Section 11. ISO 19011 Audit path

    Section 12. ISO 19011 Effective communications

    Section 13. ISO 19011 Sampling

    Section 14. ISO 19011 Audit completion and follow-up

    Section 15. ISO 19011 Competence and evaluation of auditors

This represents a summary of the section in ISO 19011:2002. It's suggested that you obtain an copy of "ISO 19011 Explanations and Definitions".