A quality compliance audit is a process were a systematic examination of an organisation’s quality system is carried out by an internal or external quality auditor or an audit team, it is key element in the ISO quality system standard, ISO 9001.
Quality audits are typically performed at predefined time intervals and ensure that an organisation has a clearly defined internal system monitoring procedures linked to effective actions.
During the past few years the focus of quality audits has shifted from purely procedural adherence, towards measurement of the actual effectiveness of the Quality Management System (QMS) and the results that have been achieved through the implementation of a QMS.
Audits are an essential management tool to be used for verifying objective evidence of processes, to assess how successfully processes have been implemented, for judging the effectiveness of achieving any defined target levels, to provide evidence concerning reduction and elimination of problem areas
