QMS ISO 9001:2015 Lead Auditor Exam Questions and Answers
An internal auditor of a manufacturer of polystyrene packaging products for the electronics industry raised a nonconformity against
section 10.3 of ISO 9001 in Report IA202. The nonconformity (NC 3) stated:
" The reject rate of ' finished ' product of 9.7% needs improvement as it doesn ' t meet the stated objective of top management of 5%. "
Just before the Closing meeting of a third-party audit, the audit team leader is invited to a meeting with the Quality Manager. He tells
the audit team leader that a member of the audit team was seen taking photographs of the factory on his phone during the day and
wants him suspended from the Closing meeting with any nonconformities raised by him rescinded. The issue of photographs was not
discussed during the opening meeting.
Select the three options for how the audit team leader might deal with this situation.
Who assigns a guide to assist the audit team?
Takitup is a small fabrication company that manufactures steel fencing, stairs and platforms for the construction sector. It has been certified to ISO 9001 for some time and has appointed a new Quality Manager. The audit plan during a surveillance audit is to cover the company’s improvement actions and the auditor asks to see the most recent management review meeting minutes.
Which two of the options would be relevant points for the auditor’s checklist for the audit?
Scenario 6: Davis Clinic (DC) is an American medical center focused on integrated health care. Since its establishment DC was committed to providing qualitative services for its clients, which is the reason why the company decided to implement a quality management system (QMS) based on ISO 9001. After a year of having an active QMS in place, DC applied for a certification audit.
A team of five auditors, from a well-known certification body, was selected to conduct the audit. Eva was appointed as the audit team leader. After three days of auditing, the team gathered to review and examine their findings. They also discussed the audit findings with DC ' s top management and then drafted the audit conclusions.
In the closing meeting, which was held between the audit team and the top management of DC. Eva presented two nonconformities that were detected during the audit. Eva stated that the company did not retain documented information regarding its outsourced services for an analysis laboratory and regarding the conducted management reviews. During the closing meeting, the audit team required from DCs top management to come up with corrective action plans within two weeks. Although the top management did not agree with the audit findings, the audit team insisted that the auditee must submit corrective actions within the given time frame in order for the audit activities to continue.
Once the action plans were evaluated, the audit team began preparing the audit report. Eva required from the team to provide accurate descriptions of the audit findings and the audit conclusions. The report was then distributed to all the interested parties involved in the audit, including the certification body Based on the report, the certification body together with Eva, as the audit team leader, made the certification decision.
Based on the scenario above, answer the following question:
Why is it important to discuss the audit findings with DC’s top management prior to the closing meeting and the submission of the final audit report?
You are carrying out an audit at an organisation seeking certification to ISO 9001 for the first time. The organisation offers health and safety training to customers. Training courses are offered either as open courses, delivered at a public venue, or online, or as courses that are tailored to meet specific requirements. The business operates from a single office and those who deliver the training are either full-time employees or subcontractors.
You are interviewing the Training Manager (TM).
You: " What quality objectives apply to the training process? "
TM: " One of the quality objectives we aim for is a 90% minimum exam pass rate for all open training courses. "
You: " How do you measure this objective? "
The Training Manager shows you a record on her computer and you see the following:
Which two of the following statements are true?
You, as auditor, are in dialogue with the quality lead and managing director of a small business that supplies specialist
laboratory equipment and furniture.
You: " I ' d like to look at how you manage change in the organisation. What changes have you made as a business, say,
over the last 12 months? "
Auditee: " We have made some strategic changes, the main one being that we no longer manufacture our own products
in house. "
You: " That sounds like quite a significant change. What has been the impact of that? "
Auditee: " We now mainly sell other manufacturers ' products, under their brand names, and have outsourced
manufacture of our own brand products to one of our suppliers. Unfortunately, we had to make six members of our staff
redundant. This represents about 20% of our workforce, so this has been quite a challenging time. "
This scenario presents a number of audit trails to different ISO 9001 requirements.
Which three of the following requirements would be relevant audit trails for this scenario?
You are a member of the audit team of a second-party audit of an organisation with 625 employees. The audit procedure recommends using sampling criteria which requires the review of the documented competence for 25 personnel. The audit team leader developed an audit plan allocating one hour to audit the Human Resources department (from 11:30 am to 12:30 pm). She told you that she could not allocate any additional time.
What would you do?
You are conducting a third-party audit to ISO 9001 and the next item on your audit plan is ' internal auditing ' .
When reviewing a sample of audit records up to 5 years previously, you find that many contain non-conformance reports and no actions have been taken. You interview the Quality Manager.
You: " I have noted that many of the older files contain non-conformances that have not had any corrective action taken. "
Quality Manager: " Because the business is always changing, the departmental managers tell me that the non-conformances are no longer applicable. I made a decision that any non-conformance over 3 years old is automatically closed "
You: " Do you obtain any confirmation beforehand from the appropriate departments that the non-conformances are no longer applicable. "
Quality Manager: " No, because they are so old I consider that they are no longer appropriate. Please remember that we take a risk-based approach which means we audit where and when it is considered important to do so.
Select one course of action you would now take from the options.
Scenario 4:
TD Advertising is a print management company based in Chicago. The company offers design services, digital printing, storage, and distribution. As TD expanded, its management recognized that success depended on adopting new technologies and improving quality.
To ensure customer satisfaction and quality improvement, the company decided to pursue ISO 9001 certification.
After implementing the QMS, TD hired a well-known certification body for an audit. Anne Key was appointed as the audit team leader. She received a document listing the audit team members, audit scope, criteria, duration, and audit engagement limits.
Anne reviewed the document and approved the audit mandate. The certification body and TD’s top management signed the certification agreement.
Before contacting TD, Anne reviewed the audit scope and noticed that TD made changes to it due to the adoption of new printing equipment. However, Anne disagreed with the changes, stating they would affect the audit timeline. She considered withdrawing from the audit.
How do you assess the situation presented in the last paragraph of scenario 4?
How can an organization ensure the objectivity and impartiality of the internal audit function?
TIX provides services to the informatic equipment of large organisations. They operate an ISO 9001:2015 QMS that is being audited by an important
customer (second-party audit). During the audit, the audit team has identified two nonconformities. When preparing the Closing meeting, the audit
team discussed and agreed both nonconformities with TIX ' s quality manager. The Closing meeting was planned for 6pm with the general manager,
quality manager and service manager at the meeting room.
At 6pm, when the audit team enters the meeting room, only two people are present and waiting for them: the Health and Safety supervisor and the
warehouse supervisor. Neither have participated in the audit.
The dialogue among them is as follows:
Audit team leader: " Good evening, could you please inform the three managers that we are ready to start with the Closing meeting? "
Health and Safety supervisor: " Good evening. We are sorry to inform you that the general manager was involved in a serious car accident, and
the other two managers have had to leave urgently to attend the emergency. "
Warehouse supervisor: " They have asked us to listen to what you need to say and to sign whatever we need to sign. We also have a message
from them about the two nonconformities. They wanted us to ask you if you could contact them in a couple of days to determine how to proceed. "
Which one of the following options would be your preferred response to the final comment made by the warehouse manager?
What is a combined audit?
You are preparing for interviews with two members of top management. Based on the information that you gathered about the organization, you conclude that it is the top management who takes all the important decisions and closely supervises and controls employees. Based on this, which management style is practiced in the organization?
In the context of a second-party audit, match the activity with the party responsible for conducting it.
An audit team of three people is conducting a Stage 2 audit to ISO 9001 of an engineering organisation which manufactures sacrificial anodes for the
oil and gas industry in marine environments. These are aluminium products designed to prevent corrosion of submerged steel structures. As one of
the auditors, you find that the organisation has shipped anodes for Project DK in the Gulf of Mexico before the galvanic efficiency test results for the
anodes have been fully analysed and reported as required by the customer. The Quality Manager explains that the Managing Director authorised the
release of the anodes to avoid late delivery as penalties would be imposed. The customer was not informed since the tests rarely fall below the
required efficiency. You raise a nonconformity against clause 8.6 of ISO 9001.
During the audit team meeting in preparation for the Closing meeting, the second auditor disagreed with the clause of ISO 9001 selected for the
above nonconformity. He thinks it should be clause 9.1.1.
Choose three options for how the audit team leader should best respond to the situation:
Whistlekleen is a national dry cleaning and laundry company with 50 shops. You are conducting a surveillance audit of the Head Office and are sampling customer complaints. 80% of complaints originate from five shops in the same region. Most of these complaints
relate to customer laundry not being cleaned as customers require. The Quality Manager tells you that these are the oldest shops in the company. The cleaning equipment needs replacing but the company cannot afford it now. You learn that the shop managers were
told to dismiss most of the complaints because of the poor quality of the laundered materials.
On raising the matter with senior management, you are told that there are plans to replace the equipment in these shops over the next five years.
You raised a nonconformity against clause 8.5.1 of ISO 9001.
Based on the scenario, select the three options which best describe the evidence for raising such a nonconformity.
Which one of the following documents addresses audit time calculation for third-party certification audits?
Which two of the following are the key expected results of a quality management system that conforms to the requirements of ISO 9001:2015?
You are an auditor and are in dialogue with the quality manager and the managing director of a small business that supplies specific IT
hardware and software for manufacturers of medical equipment.
You: " I would like to look at how you manage the design and development of your products.
Auditee: " We have made some strategic changes, the main one being that since last month we no longer produce the software of our
products in-house. "
You: " What has been the impact of that? "
Auditee: " We now subcontract the provision of the software needed for our hardware. This allowed us to concentrate our efforts on
the hardware and let specialised organisations develop the software. For the time being, we have subcontracted our software
requirements to three different organisations.
You: " What were the reasons for making the change? "
Auditee: " Our IT software section was a small operation, and we struggled to cope with new technologies. During busy periods, we
found it hard to meet lead times, and in quiet periods, we had staff with little to do. This was having an impact on customer
satisfaction. "
You: " How did you go about the change? "
In relation to the auditor ' s question about how the change was managed, the auditee mentions the actions listed
below. Match the ISO 9001 clauses to show which action the requirement applies to.
To complete the table, click on the blank section you want to complete so it is highlighted in red and then click on the
ISO 9001 clauses listed below. Alternatively, drag and drop each clause to show which clause the action applies to.
According to ISO 9000, what is quality?
Scenario 1: AL-TAX is a company located in California which provides financial and accounting services. The company manages the finances of 17 companies and now is seeking to expand their business even more The CEO of AL-TAX, Liam Durham, claims that the company seeks to provide top-notch services to their clients Recently, there were a number of new companies interested in the services provided by AL-TAX.
In order to fulfill the requirements of new clients and further improve quality, Liam discussed with other top management members the idea of implementing a quality management system (QMS) based on ISO 9001. During the discussion, one of the members of the top management claimed that the size of the company was not large enough to implement a QMS. In addition, another member claimed that a QMS is not applicable for the industry in which AL TAX operates. However, as the majority of the members voted for implementing the QMS. Liam initiated the project.
Initially, Liam hired an experienced consultant to help AL-TAX with the implementation of the QMS. They started by planning and developing processes and methods for the establishment of a QMS based on ISO 9001. Furthermore, they ensured that the quality policy is appropriate to the purpose and context of AL TAX and communicated to all employees. In addition, they also tried to follow a process that enables the company to ensure that its processes are adequately resourced and managed, and that improvement opportunities are determined.
During the implementation process, Liam and the consultant focused on determining the factors that could hinder their processes from achieving the planned results and implemented some preventive actions in order to avoid potential nonconformities Six months after the implementation of the QMS. AL-TAX conducted an internal audit. The results of the internal audit revealed that the QMS was not fulfilling all requirements of ISO 9001. A serious issue was that the QMS was not fulfilling the requirements of clause 5.1.2 Customer focus and had also not ensured clear and open communication channels with suppliers.
Throughout the next three years, the company worked on improving its QMS through the PDCA cycle in the respective areas. To assess the effectiveness of the intended actions while causing minimal disruptions, they tested changes that need to be made on a smaller scale. After taking necessary actions, AL-TAX decided to apply for certification against ISO 9001.
Based on the scenario above, answer the following question:
The CEO of AL-TAX hired an experienced consultant to help with the implementation of the QMS. Is this required from ISO 9001?
Scenario 1: AL-TAX is a company located in California which provides financial and accounting services. The company manages the finances of 17 companies and now is seeking to expand their business even more The CEO of AL-TAX, Liam Durham, claims that the company seeks to provide top-notch services to their clients Recently, there were a number of new companies interested in the services provided by AL-TAX.
In order to fulfill the requirements of new clients and further improve quality, Liam discussed with other top management members the idea of implementing a quality management system (QMS) based on ISO 9001. During the discussion, one of the members of the top management claimed that the size of the company was not large enough to implement a QMS. In addition, another member claimed that a QMS is not applicable for the industry in which AL TAX operates. However, as the majority of the members voted for implementing the QMS. Liam initiated the project.
Initially, Liam hired an experienced consultant to help AL-TAX with the implementation of the QMS. They started by planning and developing processes and methods for the establishment of a QMS based on ISO 9001. Furthermore, they ensured that the quality policy is appropriate to the purpose and context of AL TAX and communicated to all employees. In addition, they also tried to follow a process that enables the company to ensure that its processes are adequately resourced and managed, and that improvement opportunities are determined.
During the implementation process, Liam and the consultant focused on determining the factors that could hinder their processes from achieving the planned results and implemented some preventive actions in order to avoid potential nonconformities Six months after the implementation of the QMS. AL-TAX conducted an internal audit. The results of the internal audit revealed that the QMS was not fulfilling all requirements of ISO 9001. A serious issue was that the QMS was not fulfilling the requirements of clause 5.1.2 Customer focus and had also not ensured clear and open communication channels with suppliers.
Throughout the next three years, the company worked on improving its QMS through the PDCA cycle in the respective areas. To assess the effectiveness of the intended actions while causing minimal disruptions, they tested changes that need to be made on a smaller scale. After taking necessary actions, AL-TAX decided to apply for certification against ISO 9001.
Based on the scenario above, answer the following question:
According to scenario 1, AL-TAX determined the factors that could hinder their processes from achieving the planned results and implemented preventive actions. This means they employed:
In the context of a third-party certification audit, it is very important to have effective communication. Which is not the responsibility of the audit team leader?
Which one of the following options best describes the purpose of a Stage 1 third-party audit?
You are carrying out an audit at a single-site organisation seeking certification to ISO 9001 for the first time. The organization manufactures cosmetics for major retailers.
You are interviewing the Manufacturing Manager (MM).
You: " I would like to begin by looking at the cleaning controls. "
MM: " We record the cleaning of the equipment at the end of every batch. This document details the minimum cleaning frequency and the procedures to follow for all areas and each item of equipment. The person who carries out the cleaning puts their initial on the document and records the time and date alongside. "
Narrative: You sample production records over 3-days and note down evidence of nonconformity as per the table below.
You are carrying out an audit at an organisation seeking certification to ISO 9001 for the first time. The organisation offers health and safety training to
customers.
You are interviewing the Quality Systems Manager (QSM).
You: " What risks and opportunities have the business identified? "
QSM: " I ' 1l show you. This was discussed with the Managing Director at the latest management review. "
Narrative: The QSM shows you the latest management review record and points to the following table:
You: " How is the business planning to address these risks and opportunities? "
QSM: " The MD said that they already knew about them so it was not necessary. "
In the context of a third-party audit, match the activity with the party responsible in relation to the audit process.
A Health Trust has contracted with Servitup, a catering services company that has been certified to ISO
9001 for one year. It provides services to 10 small rural hospitals in remote locations involving the
purchase and storage of dry goods and fresh produce, preparing meals and loading heated trolleys for
ward service by hospital staff. You, as auditor, are conducting the first surveillance audit at one site with
the Deputy Catering Manager (DCM).
DCM: " I apologise for the absence of the Catering Manager. He has called in sick today and we are really
short of staff. "
You: " I see. It really shouldn ' t affect the QMS so the audit can progress as normal. "
DCM: " The Catering Manager set up the system. I ' m afraid I ' m not as familiar with it as he is. "
You: " OK, let ' s start with the Quality Policy. What are the main issues for the QMS here? "
DCM: Give me a minute. I need to look at the Quality Policy on the noticeboard in his office.
You find that two internal audits have been carried out in the first year by the Catering Manager. One of
them indicates that complaints from patients are increasing in number, mainly due to food being served
too cold. The DCM comments that the trolley thermometer is often unreliable.
Which two of the following actions would be " correction " in dealing with the complaints?
Select the term that best describes the purpose of retaining documented information in a quality management system to ISO 9001.
Scenario 5: Mechanical-Electro (ME) Audit Stages
Mechanical-Electro, better known as ME, is an American company that provides mechanical and electrical services in China. Their services range from air-conditioning systems, ventilation systems, plumbing, to installation of electrical equipment in automobile plants, electronic manufacturing facilities, and food processing plants.
Due to the fierce competition from local Chinese companies and failing to meet customer requirements, ME ' s revenue dropped significantly. In addition, customers ' trust and confidence in the company decreased, and the reputation of the company was damaged.
In light of these developments, the top management of ME decided to implement a quality management system (QMS) based on ISO 9001. After having an effective QMS in place for over a year, they applied for a certification audit.
A team of four auditors was appointed for the audit, including Li Na as the audit team leader. Initially, the audit team conducted a general review of ME ' s documents, including the quality policy, operational procedures, inventory lists, QMS scope, process documentation, training records, and previous audit reports.
Li Na stated that this would allow the team to maintain a systematic and structured approach to gathering documents for all audit stages. While reviewing the documented information, the team observed some minor issues but did not identify any major nonconformities. Therefore, Li Na claimed that it was not necessary to prepare a report or conduct a meeting with ME ' s representatives at that stage of the audit. She stated that all areas of concern would be discussed in the next phase of the audit.
Following the on-site activities and the opening meeting with ME ' s top management, the audit team structured an audit test plan to verify whether ME’s QMS conformed to Clause 8.2.1 (Customer Communication) of ISO 9001.
To do so, they gathered information through group interviews and sampling. Li Na conducted interviews with departmental managers in the first group and then with top management. In addition, she chose a sampling method that sufficiently represented customer complaints from both areas of ME ' s operations.
The team members were responsible for the sampling procedure. They selected a sample size of 4 out of 45 customer complaints received weekly for electrical services and 2 out of 10 complaints for mechanical services.
Afterward, the audit team evaluated the evidence against the audit criteria and generated the audit findings.
According to general principles of sampling procedure, did the audit team select a valid sample for electrical services?
The procedures of an organisation require that all purchase orders have to be signed by the Purchasing Manager, or, in her absence, by the Production Manager. During an audit carried out in November 2020, an auditor determined that during three weeks in February 2020, the purchase orders were not signed. You raise a nonconformance under Clause 8.4.3 of ISO 9001:2015.
Which one of the following answers would you accept as a ' correction ' from the Purchasing Manager?
Scenario 6: Davis Clinic (DC) is an American medical center focused on integrated health care. Since its establishment DC was committed to providing qualitative services for its clients, which is the reason why the company decided to implement a quality management system (QMS) based on ISO 9001. After a year of having an active QMS in place, DC applied for a certification audit.
A team of five auditors, from a well-known certification body, was selected to conduct the audit. Eva was appointed as the audit team leader. After three days of auditing, the team gathered to review and examine their findings. They also discussed the audit findings with DC ' s top management and then drafted the audit conclusions.
In the closing meeting, which was held between the audit team and the top management of DC. Eva presented two nonconformities that were detected during the audit. Eva stated that the company did not retain documented information regarding its outsourced services for an analysis laboratory and regarding the conducted management reviews. During the closing meeting, the audit team required from DCs top management to come up with corrective action plans within two weeks. Although the top management did not agree with the audit findings, the audit team insisted that the auditee must submit corrective actions within the given time frame in order for the audit activities to continue.
Once the action plans were evaluated, the audit team began preparing the audit report. Eva required from the team to provide accurate descriptions of the audit findings and the audit conclusions. The report was then distributed to all the interested parties involved in the audit, including the certification body Based on the report, the certification body together with Eva, as the audit team leader, made the certification decision.
Based on the scenario above, answer the following question:
The audit team delayed audit activities until DC’s top management submitted their action plans. Is this acceptable?
You are carrying out an annual surveillance audit at an organisation that has been certificated to ISO 9001 for two years. The organisation offers home cleaning services. The scope of the quality management system covers planning the weekly activities, providing cleaning materials, cleaning the whole property (including outdoor space) alarm installation, alarm servicing, alarm monitoring and response. The business operates from a single office and employs subcontract cleaners across the whole city.
You have just completed the opening meeting. You are interviewing the Managing Director (MD).
You: I would like to gain an understanding of how the quality management system has been supporting your business and its strategic direction.
MD: We are continuing to face difficult times. The market is extremely competitive, and customers typically look for the least expensive option when choosing home cleaning services. We have not yet seen any business benefit from our quality management system.
You: Tell me how you determine external and internal issues.
MD: We use PESTLE analysis (Political, economic, social, technological, legal, environmental).
You: Why did you not use the SWOT model (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats)?
MD: I had used PESTLE in my previous job.
You: How have the outputs from your PESTLE been used?
Select two audit trails which would lead to a determination of how the PESTLE analysis would affect the planning of a QMS to ISO 9001.
An audit team of three people is conducting a Stage 2 audit to ISO 9001 of an engineering organisation that manufactures sacrificial anodes for the oll and gas industry in marine environments. These are aluminium products designed to prevent corrosion of submerged
steel structures. You, as one of the auditors, find that the organisation has shipped anodes for Project DK in the Gulf of Mexico before the galvanic efficiency test results for the anodes have been fully analysed and reported as required by the customer. The Quality
Manager explains that the Managing Director authorised release of the anodes to avoid late delivery as penalties would be imposed. The customer was not informed since the tests very rarely fall below the required efficiency. You raise a nonconformity against clause 8.6 of ISO 9001.
Which of the following options for the best description of the nonconformity?
A Health Trust has contracted with Servitup, a catering services company certified to ISO 9001, for one year. You, as auditor, are conducting the first surveillance audit at one site with the Deputy Catering Manager.
You find that two internal audits have been carried out in the first year by the Catering Manager. One of them indicates that complaints from patients are increasing in number, mainly due to food being served too cold. A pre-heated food trolley is sent to the wards from the kitchen. The Deputy Catering Manager comments that the trolley thermometer is often unreliable. Evidence of calibration of the thermometer cannot be produced.
Which four of the following actions could prevent the complaints from recurring?
Scenario 7: POLKA is a car manufacturing company based in Stockholm, Sweden. The company has around 14,000 employees working in different sectors which help with the design, painting, assembling, and test drives of the final product. The company is widely known for its qualitative products and affordable prices. In order to retain their reputation, POLKA implemented a quality management system (QMS) based on ISO 9001.
Before applying for certification, the company decided to conduct an internal audit to check whether there are any nonconformities in their QMS and if the requirements of ISO 9001 are being fulfilled. The top management appointed Sean, the internal auditor, as the team leader of the internal audit team. Sean required from the top management to have unrestricted access to the employees and executives of POLKA and to the documented information. Furthermore, Sean required to establish a team with a large number of auditors, considering the size and the complexity of the organization. The top management of POLKA agreed with Sean ' s requirements.
The top management, in cooperation with Sean, assigned 10 more employees to the audit team. Following that. Sean planned the audit activities and assigned the roles and responsibilities to each auditor. They began by interviewing employees of different manufacturing departments to check whether they are aware of the process of the QMS implementation. While conducting these activities, one of the auditors asked Sean for permission to audit the department in which he worked on a daily basis, as he was very familiar with the processes of the department.
Along the way, the teams findings showed that the staff were trained, documented information was updated, and the QMS fulfilled the requirements of ISO 9001. The internal audit took three weeks to complete, and on the last week the audit team held a final meeting
The team shared their results and together drafted the audit report This report was submitted to the top management of the company. The report was maintained as documented information, and was available to the relevant interested parties.
Based on the scenario above, answer the following question:
According to Scenario 7, one of the auditors requested permission from Sean to audit the department in which he worked on a daily basis. Should Sean grant the auditor permission?
In the context of a third-party management system certification audit, which two of the following statements are correct?
ISO 9001 is based on quality management principles. Match each of the following quality management principles to the related activity.
Select the term which best describes the quality management system process of modifying a non-conforming product to bring it within acceptance criteria.
During a second-party audit of a dairy farm (by a potential customer) complying with ISO 9001:2015, the auditor verifies that there is large variability in the daily production of the milking yard. The current agreement with their only customer is to provide 2,000 litres per day. However, in the last two years, they have noticed an increasing variability in daily production.
If they produce less than 2,000 litres, they are penalised with a fine of 1.5 pesos for every litre that they do not provide. If they produce more than 2,000 litres, they use the extra milk to feed the pigs.
This process has been in operation for decades. The dairy farm was founded by the grandfather of the current owners, who did not want to alter the established practices.
The auditor raises a nonconformity on the basis that the process is not under control (Clause 8.1).
If you had been the auditor, which one of the following actions would you have accepted?
Auditor competence is a combination of knowledge and skills. Which two of the following activities are predominately related to ' knowledge ' ?
You will lead a third-party audit next Monday on ABC, an organisation that provides services for cleaning windows from the outside of tall buildings. They work on demand, and usually have 4-5 orders per week. All documented information on these activities is kept at the central office.
On Friday evening, before the audit, you are informed by mail that customers cancelled all orders for the next week; therefore, the auditors will not have the chance to see them working at the customer ' s premises, but the field supervisors will be available at the ABC offices.
You have prepared the audit plan and the checklist. Choose the best action you would take:
Scenario 3:
Fin-Pro is a financial institution in Austria offering commercial banking, wealth management, and investment services. The company faced a significant loss of customers due to failing to improve service quality as they expanded.
To regain customer confidence, top management implemented a QMS based on ISO 9001. After a year, they contacted ACB, a local certification body, to pursue ISO 9001 certification.
The audit team was led by Emilia, an experienced lead auditor, and included three auditors. After an agreement was reached, ACB sent the audit objectives to the audit team.
The audit team began by gathering information about Fin-Pro’s understanding of ISO 9001 requirements. While reviewing documented information, they noticed missing records of training and awareness sessions. They conducted employee interviews to verify attendance.
The team also reviewed the organizational chart and job descriptions to confirm employee competence. They observed the company’s working environment (social, psychological, and physical conditions).
The audit team analyzed the evidence and prepared an audit report with findings and conclusions.
Based on the last paragraph of scenario 3, which audit principle did the audit team follow?
Scenario 2:
Bell is a Canadian food manufacturing company that operates globally. Their main products include nuts, dried fruits, and confections. Bell has always prioritized product quality and has maintained a good reputation for many years. However, the company ' s production error rate increased significantly, leading to more customer complaints.
To increase efficiency and customer satisfaction, Bell implemented a Quality Management System (QMS) based on ISO 9001. The top management established a QMS implementation team comprising five middle managers from various departments, including Leslie, the quality manager.
Leslie was responsible for assigning responsibilities and authorities for QMS-related roles. He also suggested including a top management representative in the QMS team, but top management declined due to other priorities.
The team defined the QMS scope as:
" The scope of the QMS includes all activities related to food processing. "
Leslie established a quality policy and presented it to the team for review before top management approval. Top management also proposed a new strategy for handling customer complaints, requiring biweekly customer surveys to monitor customer perceptions.
Which situation presented in scenario 2 is NOT compliant with ISO 9001?
(From the following, select six tasks you would expect to be completed during the audit team meeting of a second-party audit in preparation for the closing meeting of a four-day audit being performed by organisation ABC to an external provider.)
A small deaning services organisation is about to start work on a hospital dleaning contract for the local Health Trust. You, as auditor, are conducting a Stage 2 audit to ISO 9001 and review the contract with the Service Manager. The contract requires that a cleaning plan is produced. You: " How was the cleaning plan for the contract developed? " Service Manager: " We have a basic template that covers the materials, labour requirements and cleaning methods to be employed. Some of that is specified by the customer. " You: " How does the plan deal with locations like the intensive care wards and the operating theatres, which are included in the contract? " Service Manager: " The basic plan covers general wards, but we will do more frequent cleaning in those areas if the hospital requests it. " You: " Are you aware of the regulatory requirements for cleaning standards in hospitals? " Service Manager: " No. We depend on the hospital to look after that side of things in the contract. " You decide to raise a non-conformity against section 8.2.2.a.1 of ISO 9001. You decide to raise another non-conformity against section 8.2.4 of ISO 9001 when finding that the cleaning plan was amended without the agreement of the Health Trust. A different cleaning chemical was substituted to that specified in the contract. At the follow- up audit, the corrective action proposed was to " obtain a concession from the Health Trust for use of the new chemical. " Which one of the following options is the reason why you did not accept this action taken?
Consultancy ABC, which is a subsidiary of a certification body called ABC-CERT, provided consultancy services regarding the implementation of a QMS based on ISO 9001 to an organization. Considering this, can ABC-CERT provide certification services to the organization which obtained consultancy services from Consultancy ABC?
What is a list of actions that should be performed during the audit with their respective timeline?
You are carrying out an audit at a single-site organisation seeking certification to ISO 9001 for the first time. The organization manufactures cosmetics for major retailers and the name of the retailer supplied appears on the product packaging. Sales turnover has increased significantly over the past five years.
You are interviewing the new Product Development Manager. You note that a software application called SWIFT is used to help control the product development process.
You have gathered audit evidence as outlined in the table. Match the ISO 9001 clause 8.3 extracts to the audit evidence.
Scenario 3:
Fin-Pro is a financial institution in Austria offering commercial banking, wealth management, and investment services. The company faced a significant loss of customers due to failing to improve service quality as they expanded.
To regain customer confidence, top management implemented a QMS based on ISO 9001. After a year, they contacted ACB, a local certification body, to pursue ISO 9001 certification.
The audit team was led by Emilia, an experienced lead auditor, and included three auditors. After an agreement was reached, ACB sent the audit objectives to the audit team.
The audit team began by gathering information about Fin-Pro’s understanding of ISO 9001 requirements. While reviewing documented information, they noticed missing records of training and awareness sessions. They conducted employee interviews to verify attendance.
The team also reviewed the organizational chart and job descriptions to confirm employee competence. They observed the company’s working environment (social, psychological, and physical conditions).
The audit team analyzed the evidence and prepared an audit report with findings and conclusions.
In scenario 3, the audit team required access to see the organizational chart and job descriptions to verify the employees’ competence. Based on audit best practices, is this acceptable?
Which two of the following roles do not contribute to the audit outcomes?
Scenario 7: POLKA is a car manufacturing company based in Stockholm, Sweden. The company has around 14,000 employees working in different sectors which help with the design, painting, assembling, and test drives of the final product. The company is widely known for its qualitative products and affordable prices. In order to retain their reputation, POLKA implemented a quality management system (QMS) based on ISO 9001.
Before applying for certification, the company decided to conduct an internal audit to check whether there are any nonconformities in their QMS and if the requirements of ISO 9001 are being fulfilled. The top management appointed Sean, the internal auditor, as the team leader of the internal audit team. Sean required from the top management to have unrestricted access to the employees and executives of POLKA and to the documented information. Furthermore, Sean required to establish a team with a large number of auditors, considering the size and the complexity of the organization. The top management of POLKA agreed with Sean ' s requirements.
The top management, in cooperation with Sean, assigned 10 more employees to the audit team. Following that. Sean planned the audit activities and assigned the roles and responsibilities to each auditor. They began by interviewing employees of different manufacturing departments to check whether they are aware of the process of the QMS implementation. While conducting these activities, one of the auditors asked Sean for permission to audit the department in which he worked on a daily basis, as he was very familiar with the processes of the department.
Along the way, the teams findings showed that the staff were trained, documented information was updated, and the QMS fulfilled the requirements of ISO 9001. The internal audit took three weeks to complete, and on the last week the audit team held a final meeting
The team shared their results and together drafted the audit report This report was submitted to the top management of the company. The report was maintained as documented information, and was available to the relevant interested parties.
Based on the scenario above, answer the following question:
Ten employees of POLKA were part of the audit team that conducted the internal audit. Is this acceptable?
Select the two activities which pertain to Third-Party Audit.
In the context of a management system audit, identify the sequence of a typical process for collecting and verifying information. The first one has been done for you.
To complete the sequence click on the blank section you want to complete so it is highlighted in red and then click on the applicable text from the options below. Alternatively, drag and drop the options to the appropriate blank section.
ISO 9001 requires that the organisation shall continually improve the quality management system.
Select the two options for how this can best be achieved.
Scenario 1: AL-TAX is a company located in California which provides financial and accounting services. The company manages the finances of 17 companies and now is seeking to expand their business even more The CEO of AL-TAX, Liam Durham, claims that the company seeks to provide top-notch services to their clients Recently, there were a number of new companies interested in the services provided by AL-TAX.
In order to fulfill the requirements of new clients and further improve quality, Liam discussed with other top management members the idea of implementing a quality management system (QMS) based on ISO 9001. During the discussion, one of the members of the top management claimed that the size of the company was not large enough to implement a QMS. In addition, another member claimed that a QMS is not applicable for the industry in which AL TAX operates. However, as the majority of the members voted for implementing the QMS. Liam initiated the project.
Initially, Liam hired an experienced consultant to help AL-TAX with the implementation of the QMS. They started by planning and developing processes and methods for the establishment of a QMS based on ISO 9001. Furthermore, they ensured that the quality policy is appropriate to the purpose and context of AL TAX and communicated to all employees. In addition, they also tried to follow a process that enables the company to ensure that its processes are adequately resourced and managed, and that improvement opportunities are determined.
During the implementation process, Liam and the consultant focused on determining the factors that could hinder their processes from achieving the planned results and implemented some preventive actions in order to avoid potential nonconformities Six months after the implementation of the QMS. AL-TAX conducted an internal audit. The results of the internal audit revealed that the QMS was not fulfilling all requirements of ISO 9001. A serious issue was that the QMS was not fulfilling the requirements of clause 5.1.2 Customer focus and had also not ensured clear and open communication channels with suppliers.
Throughout the next three years, the company worked on improving its QMS through the PDCA cycle in the respective areas. To assess the effectiveness of the intended actions while causing minimal disruptions, they tested changes that need to be made on a smaller scale. After taking necessary actions, AL-TAX decided to apply for certification against ISO 9001.
Based on the scenario above, answer the following question:
Scenario 1 indicates that AL-TAX did not ensure clear and open communication channels with interested parties. Which quality management principle did the organization not follow in this case?
In the context of a third-party audit, select the issue which is not expected to be included in the audit plan.
You are carrying out an audit at a single-site organisation seeking certification to ISO 9001 for the first time. The organisation offers warehousing and export services to customers. Customers are invoiced for the time stock items are stored in the warehouse. Transport to and from the warehouse is controlled by the organisation and approved subcontract transport services are used. The organization does not have its own transport vehicles. Stock items are not purchased by the organisation.
You have gathered audit evidence as outlined in the table. Match the ISO 9001 Clause 8 extract to the audit evidence.
You work as an external quality consultant for an organisation, ' A ' , which provides packaged food to the public. You are asked to lead a team (you as the leader and two other auditors) to audit a supplier, ' B ' , to ISO 9001 which provides packaging materials to your organisation. It is 4 pm and the audit is close to an end; you are having an internal meeting with the team to decide what will be presented to the auditee during the Closing meeting. The Closing meeting was scheduled at 5 pm.
You, as Audit Team Leader, audited top management. You explain to the audit team that you identified two nonconformities:
a. There is no documented information on Top Management Reviews, as required in clause 9.3 of ISO 9001:2015.
b. There is no evidence of Top Management Commitment as required in clause 5.1 of ISO 9001:2015. (e.g., not ensuring the availability of resources
to operate the QMS, not ensuring the establishment of objectives, no promotion of improvement, no promotion of the process approach).
All agreed to present these two nonconformities. They went to meet the Top Management of ' B ' and noticed that the General Manager and three other managers (Production, Human Resources, and Sales) were present in the meeting room.
Considering the seriousness of the two nonconformities to Top Management, as audit team leader, from the following select the best option:
Which two of the following auditors would not participate in a first-party audit?
You are auditing an organisation that has been certificated to ISO 9001 for ten years. The organisation is a privately-owned, multi-site car tyre fitting
organisation. You are auditing one of the sites. You are auditing the car tyre fitting service. You are interviewing the Site Manager (SM).
You: " Would you explain the car tyre fitting service? "
SM: " Of course. Customers typically call us by phone with their requirements. We ask them what they want. We check whether we have the tyres
they need in stock. If we don ' t have the tyres in stock, we contact our supplier to confirm when they would be able to supply the tyres. We then
determine the cost. We then check what availability we have in our busy schedule to fit the new tyres. We then inform the customer with details of
cost and when we can fit the tyres. If the customer is happy to proceed with the booking, we update our Work Schedule. The same process applies
for customers who walk into our office and for online requests. "
You: " What information do you retain should there be a defect reported by a manufacturer of tyres that you have fitted? "
SM: " We maintain records of customer names, addresses and contact phone numbers. We maintain a record of the type of tyre fitted and the tyre
manufacturers batch information. We also maintain a record of the registration numbers of the vehicles we have fitted tyres to. All records are in our
Work Schedule. "
Which two of the following options you would take to enable you to gather further audit evidence to validate what the Site Manager
has told you?
An audit team leader arrives at a printing organisation to carry out a Stage 2 audit for a certification body. At a meeting with the Quality Manager, she is told that they have won their biggest contract from a computer
manufacturer to print and compile computer documentation packages. They have leased the unit next door for space reasons but have never worked in this sector before. The Quality Manager wants the ISO 9001
certificate to cover the new contract.
Which one of the options is the correct response by the auditor?
(Which of the following two options could be considered the most likely potential threats to impartiality in an audit context?)
(Select the six statements that are required as part of a second-party audit to ISO 9001 carried out by an organisation to a key supplier (ABC), taking into account recommendations from ISO 19011.)
State the correct sequence of events in the certification process for an organisation to obtain third-party accredited certification to ISO 9001.
Scenario 6: Davis Clinic (DC) is an American medical center focused on integrated health care. Since its establishment DC was committed to providing qualitative services for its clients, which is the reason why the company decided to implement a quality management system (QMS) based on ISO 9001. After a year of having an active QMS in place, DC applied for a certification audit.
A team of five auditors, from a well-known certification body, was selected to conduct the audit. Eva was appointed as the audit team leader. After three days of auditing, the team gathered to review and examine their findings. They also discussed the audit findings with DC ' s top management and then drafted the audit conclusions.
In the closing meeting, which was held between the audit team and the top management of DC. Eva presented two nonconformities that were detected during the audit. Eva stated that the company did not retain documented information regarding its outsourced services for an analysis laboratory and regarding the conducted management reviews. During the closing meeting, the audit team required from DCs top management to come up with corrective action plans within two weeks. Although the top management did not agree with the audit findings, the audit team insisted that the auditee must submit corrective actions within the given time frame in order for the audit activities to continue.
Once the action plans were evaluated, the audit team began preparing the audit report. Eva required from the team to provide accurate descriptions of the audit findings and the audit conclusions. The report was then distributed to all the interested parties involved in the audit, including the certification body Based on the report, the certification body together with Eva, as the audit team leader, made the certification decision.
Based on the scenario above, answer the following question:
Is it acceptable for the certification body and Eva to make the certification decision together?
Which of the following is correct with regard to the internal audit?
The following list gives examples of records that may be evidence of how an organisation has fulfilled the requirements of clause 8.4 of ISO 9001. Match the records to the appropriate requirement of clause 8.4.
What competence, among others, should each audit team member have?
Will the auditee be subject to an audit follow-up if a minor nonconformity has been reported by the audit team leader in the audit conclusions?
Knowledge and skills are requirements of the auditor ' s competence. Select two from the following topics of knowledge that apply to every member of an audit team auditing an ISO 9001 quality management system.
Whistlekleen is a national dry cleaning and laundry organization with 50 shops. You are conducting a surveillance audit of the Head Office and are sampling customer complaints. You find that 80% of complaints originate from five shops in the same region. Most of these complaints relate to damage to customer laundry. The Quality Manager tells you that those are the oldest shops in the organization. The cleaning equipment needs replacing, but the organization cannot afford it now. Complaining customers are offered a financial incentive to close the complaint.
On raising the matter with senior management, you are told that there are plans to replace the equipment in these shops over the next five years.
Select the one option which correctly describes the non-conformity to be raised against ISO 9001.
Scenario 4:
TD Advertising is a print management company based in Chicago. The company offers design services, digital printing, storage, and distribution. As TD expanded, its management recognized that success depended on adopting new technologies and improving quality.
To ensure customer satisfaction and quality improvement, the company decided to pursue ISO 9001 certification.
After implementing the QMS, TD hired a well-known certification body for an audit. Anne Key was appointed as the audit team leader. She received a document listing the audit team members, audit scope, criteria, duration, and audit engagement limits.
Anne reviewed the document and approved the audit mandate. The certification body and TD’s top management signed the certification agreement.
Before contacting TD, Anne reviewed the audit scope and noticed that TD made changes to it due to the adoption of new printing equipment. However, Anne disagreed with the changes, stating they would affect the audit timeline. She considered withdrawing from the audit.
The audit team members were selected based on their knowledge of the legal and other regulations that TD is subject to. Is this acceptable?
To complete the non-conformity report, click on the blank section you want to complete so it is highlighted in red and then click on the applicable text from the options below. Alternatively, drag and drop the options to the appropriate blank section.
You are carrying out an annual audit at an organisation that offers home security services. You are interviewing the Quality Manager (QM)
You: " Would you tell me about your management review process? "
QM: " The senior management team plans to review the management system every six months. The review follows a set agenda and records are maintained. "
You: " May I see the records from the last two management reviews? "
Narrative: The Quality Manager gives you the latest record, which shows the last management review took place nine months ago.
The Quality Manager then gives you the previous management review record, which took place one year before the latest review.
You: " Are there any other review reports in the last two years?
QM: " No, these are the only ones. "
You are conducting an audit at an organisation seeking certification to ISO 9001 for the first time. The organisation offers health and safety training to customers. Training courses are offered either as open courses, delivered at a public venue, or online, or as courses that are tailored to meet specific requirements. The business operates from a single office and those who deliver the training are either full-time employees or subcontractors.
You have gathered audit evidence as outlined below. Match the ISO 9001 Clause 8 extract to the audit evidence.
ABC is a car washing company with 25 stations in the city. A national taxi chain (CAR XX) decided to audit ABC’s ISO 9001 management system.
You, as CAR XX audit team leader, are interviewing the ABC Quality Manager (QM) at their central office.
You: “How do you measure customer satisfaction?”
QM: “When we give the keys back to the owners, we always ask them two questions about their needs and expectations, and once per month, we discuss a summary of the answers to those questions and the complaints we receive in a box located in the waiting room.”
You: “Did you take any action based on these responses?”
QM: “We installed cameras to monitor the process and a coffee machine in the waiting room. These actions reduced the complaints by 90%.”
Based on the scenario, select which three statements are true:
You are auditing an organisation that has been certified to ISO 9001 for 10 years. The organisation is a privately owned, multi-site car tyre fitting company. You are auditing one of the sites.
You have confirmed with the Workshop Supervisor that tyre batch numbers shall be recorded in the Work Schedule. You have sampled recent Work Schedule records and written the following in your audit notes:
No batch numbers for tyres fitted to customers’ cars were recorded in the Work Schedule for job numbers 1/5, 1/16, 2/2, 2/7, 3/2, 3/5, 3/7 and 3/9. 15 jobs completed over the past five days were sampled. The Workshop Supervisor and the Tyre Fitter were aware of this missing information in the records, but no action had been taken.
You decide to raise a non-conformity.
Scenario 2:
Bell is a Canadian food manufacturing company that operates globally. Their main products include nuts, dried fruits, and confections. Bell has always prioritized product quality and has maintained a good reputation for many years. However, the company ' s production error rate increased significantly, leading to more customer complaints.
To increase efficiency and customer satisfaction, Bell implemented a Quality Management System (QMS) based on ISO 9001. The top management established a QMS implementation team comprising five middle managers from various departments, including Leslie, the quality manager.
Leslie was responsible for assigning responsibilities and authorities for QMS-related roles. He also suggested including a top management representative in the QMS team, but top management declined due to other priorities.
The team defined the QMS scope as:
" The scope of the QMS includes all activities related to food processing. "
Leslie established a quality policy and presented it to the team for review before top management approval. Top management also proposed a new strategy for handling customer complaints, requiring biweekly customer surveys to monitor customer perceptions.
Which of the following indicates that Bell has defined its quality objectives?
You are carrying out an audit at an organisation seeking certification to ISO 9001 for the first time. The organisation offers regulatory consultancy services to manufacturers of cosmetics. The business operates from ten regional offices.
You are nearing the end of the audit and need to decide if sufficient evidence of top management leadership and commitment with respect to the quality management system has been gathered.
Which four of the following would demonstrate top management leadership and commitment with respect to the quality management system?
