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CHARACTERISTICS
OF AUDITS
Part two of a three part
series.
The following is
an excerpt from The
Complete Guide to the CQA by Steve
Baysinger, © Quality Publishing.
The Complete Guide
to the CQA may be ordered from the Quality
Publishing Order Form.
First Party,
Second Party and Third Party Audits
FIRST PARTY
(INTERNAL) AUDIT
A first party audit is
usually performed by the company (or a department within the company)
upon itself. It is an audit of those portions of an organization’s
quality assurance program that are "retained under its direct control
and within its organizational structure." (ANSI/ASQC NQA-1 (1986))
A first party audit is usually conducted by the organization’s internal
audit group. However, employees within the department itself may also
conduct an assessment similar to a first party audit. In such an instance,
this "audit" is generally referred to as a "self assessment."
The purpose of a self
assessment is to monitor and analyze key intradepartmental processes which,
if left unattended, have the potential to degenerate and negatively affect
product quality, safety and overall system integrity. These monitoring
and analyzing responsibilities lie directly with those most affected by
departmental processes—the employees assigned to the respective departments
under examination.
Although first party audit/self
assessment ratings are subjective in nature, the ratings guideline shown
here helps to hone overall rating precision. If performed properly, first
party audits and self assessments:
- Provide feedback to
management that the quality system is both implemented and effective,
and;
- Are excellent tools
for gauging an organization’s continuous improvement effort as
well as measuring the return on investment for sustaining that effort.
SECOND
PARTY (EXTERNAL) AUDIT
Unlike the first party
audit, a second party audit is an audit of another organization’s
quality program not under the direct control or within the organizational
structure of the auditing organization. (ANSI/ASQC NQA-1 (1986)) Second
party audits are usually performed by the customer upon its suppliers
(or potential suppliers) to ascertain whether or not the supplier can
meet existing or proposed contractual requirements. Obviously, the supplier’s
quality system is a very important part of contractual requirements since
it is directly (manufacturing, engineering, purchasing, quality control,
etc.) and indirectly (marketing, inside and outside sales, etc.) responsible
for the design, production, control and continued supportability of the
product. (See Figure 1.3 for an example of a second party audit process
flow.) Although second party audits are usually conducted by customers
on their suppliers, it is sometimes beneficial for the customer to contract
with an independent quality auditor. This action helps to promote an image
of fairness and objectivity on the part of the customer.
THIRD PARTY
AUDIT
Compared to first and
second party audits where auditors are not independent, the third party
audit is objective. It is an assessment of an organization’s
quality system conducted by an independent, outside auditor or team
of auditors. When referring to a third party audit as it applies to
an international quality standard such as ISO 9000, the term "third
party" is synonymous with a quality system registrar whose primary
responsibility is to assess an organization’s quality system for
conformance to that standard and issue a certificate of conformance
(upon completion of a successful assessment).
The Complete Guide
to the CQA
By Steve Baysinger
Copyright © 1997
by Quality Publishing, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
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