The Pre-Audit Before Certification

A certification audit is a process in which months of preparation by an organisation are assessed in a few days. Going into this assessment unprepared can lead to shortcomings that could easily have been remedied being recorded as nonconformities, and to the certification process taking longer.

A pre-audit is an independent assessment carried out using the same method the certification body will use. Documents, records and on-site practices are examined against the requirements of the standard, employees are interviewed and findings are classified by severity. The organisation thus sees in advance the picture it will face on the day of the audit and remedies its shortcomings in time.

Internal audits are an indispensable part of the system, but because internal auditors are close to the processes and the people involved, they may come to regard some practices as normal. An auditor looking in from outside, however, questions practices that have become habits and notices gaps that the organisation cannot see from within. It is also important for the pre-audit to take place well enough ahead of the certification audit; an assessment carried out a few days before the audit may reveal shortcomings, but it leaves no time to remedy them.

The real value of a pre-audit emerges in the work done after the report. When the findings have been addressed and verified on site, the organisation goes into the certification audit not merely having closed its gaps but with evidence that it can manage its system by its own methods. In food safety standards in particular, including critical suppliers in the assessment shows that the organisation keeps its supply chain under control.