In short
Certification audit support means an experienced Equas consultant is with you for your Stage 1 and Stage 2 certification audits. We prepare your team, manage the evidence, interpret the auditor's questions and handle any findings raised, so your first audit with a UKAS-accredited certification body goes smoothly.
What a certification audit support involves
A certification audit is a strange experience the first time. Someone you have never met spends a day or two asking your colleagues questions, and a certificate your customers are waiting for depends on the answers.
Most of the anxiety is unnecessary. Certification auditors are not trying to catch you out. But there are habits that help and habits that cause problems, and people who have never done this before rarely know which is which.
We prepare your team beforehand: who will be interviewed, what they are likely to be asked, and how to answer. The most common self-inflicted wound is over-answering. Someone tries to be helpful, volunteers a tangent, and opens a line of enquiry nobody needed to go down.
During the audit we are with you. We make sure requested evidence appears quickly, which matters more than people expect, because an auditor who cannot find evidence starts looking harder elsewhere. We interpret questions where the auditor is using standard language your team does not use day to day. And where a finding is being raised, we make sure it is understood properly at the time, when it can still be discussed, rather than discovered in the report a fortnight later.
Afterwards we help you respond to any findings within the certification body's deadline.
Across more than twenty years and over 1,000 clients, we have a 100% success rate at certification audits. That record comes from preparation, not persuasion.
We are clear about the boundary here. We do not argue with auditors on your behalf or attempt to influence the outcome. The auditor's independence is the entire reason a UKAS-accredited certificate is worth having. What we do is make sure your system is represented accurately and that nothing is lost in translation.
Who it is for
Working towards certification
This is your first audit and the one that decides whether you get the certificate. Support here is the difference between a clean result and a scramble to close findings.
Already certified
If you are adding a new standard, that standard goes through its own Stage 1 and Stage 2. For ongoing annual visits, see surveillance and recertification audit support.
What is included
An honest assessment of whether you are ready, early enough to do something about it.
Briefing the people who will be interviewed on what to expect and how to answer.
The records the auditor will ask for, organised and accessible before they arrive.
The documentation review and readiness assessment, with us present.
The main implementation audit, on site or remote, for its full duration.
Translating the auditor's questions where standard terminology and your terminology differ.
Root cause analysis and corrective action responses submitted within the certification body's deadline.
How it works
- 1
Readiness assessment
We check the system is genuinely ready before the date is confirmed, rather than after.
- 2
Evidence preparation
The records an auditor will ask for are gathered and organised in advance.
- 3
Team briefing
Everyone likely to be interviewed is briefed on the process and on how to answer well.
- 4
Stage 1 audit
The documentation and readiness review, with us in attendance and taking notes on what Stage 2 will focus on.
- 5
Stage 1 gap closure
Anything Stage 1 flags is resolved before Stage 2.
- 6
Stage 2 audit
The full implementation audit, with us present throughout.
- 7
Findings and certification
Any findings are responded to within the deadline and the recommendation for certification is confirmed.
The most popular standards we support
Equas helps clients achieve UKAS-accredited certification across every ISO standard we cover.
The international standard for quality management systems
The international standard for environmental management systems
The international standard for IT service management
The international standard for business continuity management
The international standard for information security management
The international standard for AI management systems
The international standard for occupational health and safety
The international standard for energy management systems
Quality management for the built environment, built on ISO 9001
The Energy Savings Opportunity Scheme
Frequently asked questions
Related services
Implementation Support
Build your management system the right way, at the level of help you need
Non-conformity Close-out Support
Turn audit findings into closed actions, on time
Surveillance and Recertification Audit Support
Pass every certification body visit with ease