ABSTRACT
Both customers and managers have a need for an assurance of quality as they are not able to oversee operations for themselves. They need to place trust in the functions and processes of the organization, thus avoiding constant intervention. This chapter examines seven requirements of clause 9.2, namely: auditing objectives; planning the audit programme; defining audit criteria and scope; ensuring audit objectivity and impartiality; defining audit methods; reporting audit results to management; undertaking correction and corrective action; and retaining evidence of the implementation. A process audit takes as its objective a result that the organization either desires or is required to achieve and seeks to establish that the processes that are intended to deliver this result are being managed effectively. The audit criteria are the standards for the performance being audited. They may include policies, procedures, regulations or requirements. Examinations without such a standard are surveys not audits.
