Section 14 - ISO 19011

Audit Completion and Follow-up: ISO 19011- Section 14

Audit Completion:

The audit is completed when all activities described in the audit plan have been carried out and the approved audit report has been distributed.

Documents pertaining to the audit should be retained by agreement between the participating parties and in accordance with audit program procedures and applicable statutory, regulatory and contractual requirements.

If your company is registered/certified to one or more of the international standards you must retain the audit records. Audit records must be available for your third-party auditors to review for compliance to the standard's requirements and effectiveness of the audit process. Audit results are also required to be reviewed at the management review meetings. Audit results are also, a significant input for continual improvement.

Unless required by law, the audit team and those responsible for managing the audit program should not disclose the contents of documents, or any other information obtained during the audit, or the audit report, to any other party without the explicit approval of the auditee. If disclosure of the contents of an audit document is required, the audit client and auditee should be informed as soon as possible.

Conducting audit follow-up:

The conclusions of the audit may indicate the need for corrective, preventive or improvement actions. These actions are usually decided and undertaken by the auditee within an agreed timeframe and are not considered to be part of the audit. The auditee should keep the audit client informed of the status of these actions.

The completion and effectiveness of corrective action must be verified. This verification may be part of a subsequent audit. The audit program may specify follow-up by members of the audit team, which adds value by using their expertise. In such cases, care should be taken to maintain independence in subsequent audit activities.

The auditor or audit team members should not be involved in developing or implementing any corrective actions for nonconformances arising from an audit they conducted. Involving yourself in corrective actions gives the impression of ownership. Ownership involves bias. 

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".