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.
Which statement below represents the level of responsibility demonstrated by the audit team in scenario 3?
You work for an organisation, 'ABC', which provides packaged food to the public. You are asked to lead a team (you as the leader and two other
auditors) to audit an external provider, 'XYZ', which provides packaging materials to your organisation. It is 4 pm, and the audit is dlose 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 for 5 pm.
'XYZ' has two manufacturing lines: M1 is a clean room for primary packaging materials (i.e. will be in direct contact with the food), and M2 is for
secondary materials (i.e. will not be in direct contact with food).
Auditor 1 audited the two manufacturing lines.
You: "What findings would you report?"
Auditor 1: "I have one issue. Earlier today in the morning I saw some secondary material stocked in the clean room. I would propose raising a
nonconformity."
You: "How would you write the nonconformity?"
Auditor 1: "In the clean room, there was a pallet with secondary materials."
What additional information would you add to this text to complete the nonconformity report? Select six.
You are carrying out an audit at a single-site organisation seeking certification to ISO 9001 for the first time. The organisation 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.
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.
Li Na chose a sampling method that sufficiently represents customer complaints from both areas of ME’s operations. Which sampling method fits that description?
Which two of the following may be changed once a Stage 2 certification audit has commenced?
Which type of audit risk is the risk that a significant defect may occur in the QMS, although the organization has internal control mechanisms in place?
You are preparing an audit plan for a third-party ISO 9001 audit of organisation ABC that extracts lithium from mines in Bolivia.
ABC’s head office is in Lima, Peru, and it outsources all processes related to Production, Maintenance, Procurement and Human Resources to local Bolivian companies. ABC personnel manage in Bolivia only the Planning function.
Your plan starts in Lima, then you decide to go to Bolivia and fly back to Lima to audit the Quality Function and Top Management and conduct the closing meeting.
What would be your best decision when planning the audit in Bolivia?
The ISO 9001 clause 5.1.1 states top management shall demonstrate leadership and commitment with respect to the quality management system.
In the context of the ISO 9001 management system certification, select the one correct description of top management's responsibilities.
Match each of the following statements into the table below to show whether they apply to first-party audits, second-party audits or third-party audits:
TESTED 24 Feb 2026
