Services / Second-party audit
Second-party audit
— ISO supplier audits
Check whether your suppliers genuinely meet your contractual requirements and the applicable ISO standards. Golden Audit Consulting® carries out second-party audits at your suppliers in Romania, with IRCA certified auditors and reports you can use for sourcing decisions.
Types of audit: first, second and third party
Internal audit (first party)
Carried out by the organisation on its own processes. Required by the ISO standards for internal verification of the management system.
Second-party audit
Carried out by an organisation (or someone it appoints) at a supplier. The purpose is to verify the supplier conformity with the customer requirements.
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Third-party audit
Carried out by an accredited certification body, independent of both parties. The outcome is the ISO certificate.
When do you need a second-party audit?
Situations in which auditing your suppliers is necessary or mandatory.
Selecting a new supplier
You check the real capability of a potential supplier before signing the contract. You remove the surprises that come afterwards.
An ISO 9001 requirement
Clause 8.4 of ISO 9001 requires control of externally provided processes, products and services. The second-party audit is the concrete evidence.
Repeated nonconformities
When a supplier delivers nonconforming products or services and the usual measures do not work, auditing at source identifies the real cause.
A critical supply chain
Companies in the automotive, food and medical sectors are obliged to audit critical suppliers periodically. We take that on with qualified auditors.
How we run the second-party audit
A structured process in line with ISO 19011:2018, adapted to your requirements.
01
Defining the criteria
We agree together what the supplier has to meet: contractual clauses, ISO requirements, technical specifications.
02
Notifying the supplier
We contact the supplier, request the preliminary documents and set the date and agenda for the audit.
03
The audit at the supplier site
We carry out the audit on site: we interview key staff and check the processes, inspections and quality records.
04
Report and action plan
We deliver the report with the findings, the classification of nonconformities and the corrective actions required from the supplier, with clear deadlines.
05
Follow-up
We verify that the corrective actions have been implemented and confirm that the nonconformities have genuinely been eliminated.
Frequently asked questions about second-party audits
What is a second-party audit (supplier audit)?
A second-party audit is an audit carried out by an organisation (or by an auditor it appoints) at its supplier, to verify that the supplier meets the contractual requirements, the requirements of the applicable ISO standards, and the agreed technical specifications.
When is a second-party audit needed?
A second-party audit is needed before selecting a new strategic supplier, periodically for existing suppliers with a critical impact on quality, after repeated nonconformities in the products or services supplied, or when ISO 9001 requires the evaluation and monitoring of outsourced processes.
Who can carry out a second-party audit?
A second-party audit can be carried out by the client organisation internal auditor or by an appointed external auditor (an independent consultancy). The auditor must be competent in the field and impartial towards the supplier being audited.
What documents are needed for a second-party audit?
Before the audit, the supplier is asked for: the list of relevant processes, the management system documentation (where it exists), the ISO certificates held, the quality control procedures for the product or service supplied, and the results of recent internal inspections.
Request an audit at your suppliers
The IRCA auditors of Golden Audit Consulting® carry out second-party audits at your suppliers in Romania and beyond. You receive a complete report and an action plan you can use in the relationship with the supplier.