Audit Checklist: Running System, Process and Product Audits
What is an Audit Checklist?
An audit checklist turns the audit criteria — standard clauses, customer requirements and company documents — into observable, verifiable questions. A good checklist makes audits evidence-based, complete and traceable instead of improvised on site. It serves ISO 9001 and IATF 16949 internal audits, second-party audits (customers auditing suppliers) and third-party preparation, and it accumulates company experience: historical findings become mandatory check items, so the checklist grows more valuable with use.
When to Use It
Use the system-audit template organized by standard clauses (such as production control and error-proofing in IATF 16949) to check whether system elements are established and executed; the process-audit template organized by the process method (turtle diagram: inputs/outputs, resources, methods, indicators) to check process capability; and the product-audit template organized by product characteristics and customer requirements to check physical quality, marking and traceability. Every template is editable to fit the company.
How to Use It (Step by Step)
Follow PDCA: plan the audit with the checklist and notify the auditee; on site, collect evidence by asking, checking records, observing and verifying; record the facts, clause and severity of every nonconformity; then issue nonconformity reports and track corrective-action closure. Findings must be objective and traceable — each one needs concrete facts, a location and evidence files — and the tool supports nonconformity registration with status tracking to close the loop.
Key Formulas / Example
There are no statistical formulas: findings are graded conforming, nonconforming or observation, with severity major (system failure or product-quality impact) versus minor (local non-execution), plus observations for potential risk. Checklist completion equals checked items divided by total items, and severity drives both corrective requirements and the audit conclusion.