Does ISO quality auditing meet the standard for 3rd party audits?
A third party audit is typically undertaken by an independent auditor firm. With an ISO 9001 audit the independent auditor is the Statutory authority registrar who generally do not possess an commercial interest in the final result of the audit. A third party auditor can the statutory authority itself, government representative, or firm hired by the authority. The outcome of the audit could be a certification, license, acceptance, or an award. With a second party audit the audit is conducted by those who have a relationship to the final result. This is often suppliers, or your customers auditing the organisation. The name given to these types of audits are surveys or an assessments. In the case of a first party audits are audits undertaken inhouse. These audits are management tools which emphasise continuous improvement of business practices and processes. The auditor should ideally be independent of the audit area and be strategically aligned with the organisations objectives (goals)
