Guidelines for auditing management systems
Since the third edition of this document was published in 2018, several management system standards have been published in new fields. Most of them have a common structure, identical core requirements, and common terms and core definitions. As a result, there is a need to consider a broader approach to management system auditing, as well as to provide guidance that is more generic.
This document provides guidance which can be applied to audit against a range of audit criteria (separately or in combination) including, but not limited to:
— requirements specified in one or more management system standards;
— policies, processes and requirements specified by the organization or other relevant interested parties;
— statutory and regulatory requirements;
— one or more management system processes defined by the organization and/or other parties;
— management system plan(s) relating to the provision of specific results of a management system (e.g. quality plan, project plan).
This document provides guidance for all organizations regardless of their size and type, and audits of varying scopes. This includes those conducted by large audit teams, typically of larger organizations, and those by single auditors, whether in large or small organizations. This guidance should be adapted as appropriate to the scope and complexity of the audit programme.