External auditing

Course details

All aspects of planning, conducting audits, making judgements on audit evidence, reporting and following-up results are included in the course. Throughout the course, the audit guidelines encompassed within ISO 19011 are utilized as are the definitions encompassed within that standard as well as ISO 9000.

Management system standards for quality, environment and health and safety are now almost universally adopted as a basis for auditing. Without conducting an in-depth study of each management system standard, students are shown how the requirements of the standards can be used to prepare an effective audit even on organizations with no management system certification. In addition, students are introduced to methods of auditing against the requirements of a contract, legislation, or a specification.

Managing audits as the auditee is also an important responsibility in many organizations. Audits are conducted by customers, regulatory authorities, and others for a variety of purposes. Effective audit management can influence the eventual outcome of this process and activities such as pre-audit preparation, audit interview techniques and auditor visit management are all factors considered in this course.

The outcome of any audit can result in improvement actions categorised and defined in a number of ways. Effective root cause analysis, corrective and preventive actions are essential for organizations to gain the most from the audit results.

Whether giving or receiving audits this course provides an essential in-depth overview of the most powerful management tool encompassed in all management systems.

A five-day tutored event.

Please click on your preferred date to make a booking:

Course prices

Who should attend

• All persons tasked with managing audit programmes and audit teams for the purposes of supplier/contractor management
• All persons tasked with conducting audits outside their organization
• All persons responsible for managing or participating in audits form external auditors conducted on their own organization

Why you should attend

This course prepares students to undertake effective external audits and to receive audits undertaken on their organization from customers, regulatory authorities or other interested parties.

Course style

The course is highly interactive and exercises and discussions will be run throughout the sessions.

• Knowledge-based presentations
• Individual and group work activities
• Practical skills development exercises, workshops and role plays
• Delegate participation and interactive discussion groups
• Continuous and written assessments of delegates' performance

Pre-course requirements

• A working knowledge of ISO9001 requirements would be useful
• Experience of working in an organisation certificated to ISO 9001 or a similar management system standard would be beneficial
• Although not essential some internal audit experience would be valuable either as auditor or auditee

After this...

Delegates will effectively prepare an audit against a range of criteria

• Manage an audit in a professional manner
• Confidently judge the evidence collected to formulate appropriate conclusions
• Be able to assess the effectiveness of corrective actions
• Be able to establish a basis for their own future development as an auditor

Programme

Day 1  

Day 2

Day 3

Day 4

Day 5

Course Tutors

Dave Underwood is a Fellow of the CQI, a Member of the Institute of Operations Management, and has been a registered IRCA Lead Auditor of Quality Management Systems since 1995.

Since 1996 Dave has been Managing Director of Alan A Griffin Associates UK Ltd, a successful training and consultancy organization based on the south coast of England. In 1994, Dave was employed as business development manager for Alan A Griffin Associates. Since that time, Dave has established quality, environmental and health and safety management systems within organizations in a wide range of business sectors including, local government, engineering, health care/sports, construction, automotive and food preparation and supply. He has also established and presented training courses on a variety of subjects relating to business management topics. In 2000, Dave successfully completed a Post Graduate Certificate in Adult Education as well as gaining qualifications as a course assessor and internal verifier.

Dave has established a quality management system auditor/lead auditor course for Alan A Griffin Associates and for the CQI and regularly teaches for the CQI in the UK and overseas. He has conducted quality auditor/lead auditor training in India, Thailand, Chile, Finland, Saudi Arabia and the USA. Dave is also an active consultant and auditor in environmental and health and safety management and has supported a number of organizations to achieve management system certification in these areas.

In recent years, Dave has also supported organizations in the implementation of integrated management systems combining a range of management system standards in a variety of business sectors including construction, manufacturing and automotive and medical devices.

As an active member of the British Quality Foundation, Dave has also developed training courses in project management, the application of quality award frameworks, as well as in the application of a range of tools and techniques for quality, safety and environmental improvement.

Ali AL-Zubaidi is a Business Management Systems Professional, European and Chartered Engineer, Chartered Quality Professional, Fellow of the CQI and Member of the Institution of Chemical Engineers.

Having completed a BSc in Chemical Engineering and a PhD in Materials Engineering, Ali spent eight years working as a senior project engineer in the fields of power generation and water desalination in the Arabian Gulf, with special emphasis on implementing project management assurance systems including quality and environmental systems to addition to vendors and contractors’ evaluation and assessment.

Ali then joined Societe Generale de Surveillance, as Inspection and Audit Manager in the UK for five years (1991–1996), responsible for managing 145 auditors. He managed and performed numerous quality, environmental and occupational health and safety management systems audits. In 1996, he joined Corporate Head Office in Geneva as an International Consultant and Trainer, promoting best practices, business improvement initiatives and change programmes and performing internal and external audit training courses throughout many countries around the world.

In 1999, Ali established himself as an independent consultant in the field of integrated management systems, providing implementation consultancy, auditing and training in various business and projects management systems in a wide range of business sectors, including engineering, retail, legal, food, healthcare and construction. He has performed many operational and project audits for numerous companies.

In addition, Ali provides vendors assessment and other systems verification services for major international contracting companies. Ali has extensive international project and training experience having worked in many courses around the world covering countries in Europe, North and South America, Africa, the Middle East, Asia and the Far East.

Ali is an approved lead trainer by the CQI and other reputable training organizations in the fields of quality, environmental, occupational health and safety, food safety management systems and projects management systems.

CQI training courses

At the CQI we offer the very best in quality training for both experienced quality professionals and those completely new to the field. Our highly experienced trainers present a range of public courses covering a wide variety of topics, both introductory and advanced.

Fully flexible in-house training packages can be individually tailored to suit the needs of your organization and are conducted on site at your premises by our experienced trainers. We can offer any of our public portfolio of courses in-house, as well as many other topics. Please contact us for more information or to discuss.

Contact CQI Training:

T: +44 (0) 20 7245 6696
F: +44 (0) 20 7245 6788
E: training@thecqi.org