Audit

The audit is carried out to determine whether guidelines, requirements or processes in a company meet the required standards. An audit therefore does not refer to the company itself, but to the management system that is implemented. According to DIN EN ISO 9000, an audit is a "systematic and objective examination to determine the degree of fulfilment of agreed requirements".

In quality management there are different forms of audits: the product audit, the procedural audit, the process audit and the system audit.

Product audit: Investigation of a defective product during and after production.
Procedural audit: examination of compliance with and appropriateness of procedures (defined way of carrying out an activity/process)
Process audit: Investigation of the entire process steps potentially of all processes of an organization
System audit: Examination and certification of the QM system; the basis for this is mostly quality management standards (ISO 9001, etc.).

There is also a distinction between internal audit (first party), external supplier audit (second party) and external certification audit (third party). While the internal audit rather serves self-assessment, the external audit is carried out either by the customer, by a party commissioned by the customer (supplier audit) or by an accredited certification body (certification audit).

Today, audits are carried out not only in quality management, but also in almost all areas of the company. On the one hand, audits are carried out to check the current status and compliance with the objectives, on the other hand, they are also carried out to eliminate general problems or identify areas for improvement.