A new ISO technical specification, ISO/IEC TS 17022, Requirements and recommendations for content of a third-party audit report on management systems, will help build confidence between partners in business-to-business dealings, and provide support for trade regulations.
The document relates to specific aspects of “ conformity assessment ” – the name given to the processes used to demonstrate that a product, service, management system or organization meets specified requirements, such as those of a standard.
ISO/IEC TS 17022:2012, contains requirements and recommendations for the content of an audit report of a third-party management system certification, such as ISO 9001 or ISO 14001.
It has been developed to ensure that audit reports include the basic information required of them and to improve their consistency. This will help to increase the credibility of audit teams and the certification process.
Although the audit client and the certification body are the primary users of audit reports, the content of such reports may be required to satisfy the needs of other interested parties, such as accreditation bodies or regulatory authorities.
It remains to be seen whether this new International Standard will bring about the much, need improvements for Audit Reports to deliver meaningful value.