Requirements for Certification as an IRCA Auditor (All Schemes) Requirements for Certification as an IRCA Auditor (All Schemes) Contents Note: This contents is hot-linked. Click on a section to be taken to that page. 1. Introduction to IRCA Auditor Certification p. 3-4 2. Certification Grades and Summary of Grade Applicabilities p. 5 3. Instructions for Initial Certification, Maintenance of Certification, Renewal of Certification and Changing Your Certification Grade (Regrade) p. 6-8 3.1 How to: Make an initial application p. 6 3.2 How to: Maintain your certification p. 7 3.3 How to: Renew your certification p. 7 3.4 How to: Regrade p. 7 3.5 IRCA’s evaluation process: What we do p. 8 4. Essential Guidance for Application p. 9-14 4.1 General p. 9 4.2 Guidance on educational requirements p. 9 4.3 What audits do we accept for certification? p. 9-11 4.4 What training course certificates does IRCA accept? P. 11-12 4.5 Guidance on continuing professional development (CPD) p. 12-13 4.6 Guidance on work experience p. 13 4.7 Guidance on applying for transfer to Principal Auditor p. 13-14 5. Auditor Certification Criteria p. 15-20 5.1 Internal Auditor and Provisional Internal Auditor p. 15 5.2 Auditor and Provisional Auditor p. 16 5.3 Lead Auditor p. 17 5.4 Principal Auditor p. 18-20 6. Renewal of Certification Criteria and Requirements p. 21-23 7. Terms and Conditions p. 24-25 7.1 Appeals and complaints p. 24 7.2 Enforcement of certification p. 24 7.3 Confidentiality p. 24 7.4 Legal status p. 24 7.5 Fees p. 24-25 IRCA 1000 19.09.2012 Appendix I p. 26-58 Scheme-specific requirements and guidance are given for the following: Part 1 - Quality Management System Auditor Scheme p. 26 Part 2 - Environmental Management System Auditor Scheme p. 27 Part 3 - Occupational Health and Safety Management System Auditor Scheme p. 28 Part 4 - Information Security Management System Auditor Scheme p. 29-30 Part 5 - Information Technology Service Management System Auditor Scheme p. 31 Part 6 - Business Continuity Management System Auditor Scheme p. 32-33 Part 7 - Energy Management System Auditor Scheme p. 34-35 Part 8 - Pharmaceutical Management System Auditor Scheme p. 36-37 Part 9 - Aerospace Quality Management System Auditor Scheme p. 38-40 Part 10 - TickIT Auditor Scheme p. 41 Part 11 - Food Safety Management System Auditor Scheme p. 42-44 Part 12 - Social Systems Auditor Scheme p. 45-46 Part 13 - EICC-GeSI Auditor Scheme p. 47-49 Part 14 - Maritime Auditor Scheme p. 50-52 Part 15 - SSiP Assessor Scheme p. 53-58 Appendix II Definitions p. 59 Appendix III IRCA Code of Conduct p. 60 Copyright IRCA – 2012 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means – electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise – without prior permission of the International Register of Certificated Auditors (IRCA). 2 1. Introduction to IRCA Auditor Certification Commitment to professionalism IRCA auditor certification demonstrates your commitment to the profession through: a) Your demonstration of required knowledge and skills, gained through work experience, training and audit experience, to: Plan and organise an audit of a management system (MS) Identify, understand and audit relevant business processes Sample and evaluate audit evidence, and determine the effectiveness of a management system Report audit findings and conclusions accurately Communicate clearly, both orally and in writing, with personnel at all levels of an organisation Plan, organise and lead the audit team, and manage the audit process. b) Your adherence to principles of proper ethical conduct, fair presentation and due professional care, as articulated in the IRCA Code of Conduct c) Your commitment to continuing professional development (CPD) d) Your commitment to provide value to: The users and stakeholders who rely on management systems audits to establish if the organisation’s management system can consistently meet customer and applicable regulatory requirements The auditee by providing management with information regarding the organisation’s ability to meet its management system-related business objectives; identifying problems that may prevent the client from meeting its management system-related business objectives; and identifying meaningful opportunities for improvement, as well as those areas of risk that are not yet identified or managed. When you achieve IRCA auditor certification, you join over 14,000 management systems auditors in over 120 countries who share your professionalism and commitment, and benefit from: A globally recognised qualification, valued and often required by employers and clients Entry on to our publically available online register of auditors, which is used by employers globally Your individual certification card, to demonstrate your certification to clients and employers Your auditor certification logo, for you to use on your stationery and documents The IRCA system of continuing professional development, to support your career progression through always being able to demonstrate a currency of skills and knowledge. 3 The IRCA schemes To be efficient and competitive, business and industry needs competent auditors. The purpose of our management systems auditor certification schemes is to provide confidence through accredited certification, and to show business and industry that auditors certificated to these schemes are competent. As part of the certification process, we will evaluate you against requirements that reflect the key skills, knowledge and experience that define competence and which you, the management system (MS) auditor, need to possess and to demonstrate during an audit. Each scheme is based on a key standard, such as: ISO 9001: Quality management systems – Requirements (latest issue) ISO 14001: Environmental management systems – Requirements (latest issue), etc And each scheme is influenced by the following auditing standards: ISO 19011: Guidelines for auditing management systems (latest issue) ISO 17021: Conformity assessment – Requirements for bodies providing audit and certification of management systems (latest issue). Our award of certification means we have recognised that you understand and are competent (depending on the grade awarded) to: Uphold the principles of proper ethical conduct, fair presentation and due professional care Communicate clearly, both orally and in writing, with personnel at all levels of an organisation Plan and organise an audit of a management system Identify, understand and audit relevant business processes Sample and evaluate audit evidence, and determine the effectiveness of a management system Report audit findings and conclusions accurately Plan, organise and lead the audit team, and manage the audit process. The scope of certification is general. You may select from a list of up to six standard industry sectors in which you have acquired work experience. These details, although included within the register, are self-declarations and outside the scope of certification. The details of all certificated auditors are included within a register that is publicly available. The schemes are intended for: Auditors, eg those for whom auditing is a significant part of their role, including supply chain auditors, those employed by certification bodies/registrars, and those conducting audits within their own organsations Practitioners, eg consultants, audit programme managers, and others involved in auditing through the development and maintenance of management systems, auditor training and standards development. 4 2. Certification Grades and Summary of Grade Applicabilities Most auditor schemes have four main grades of certification and two provisional grades. However, some schemes have different/limited grades, or different terms (eg Assessor). Please refer to the respective appendix for further guidance on any scheme. Grade Applicability Guidance notes Internal You should consider this grade if you conduct internal ‘partial Partial system audits are audits that do not Auditor system’ audits of your organisation’s management system, or a cover the entire management system in a supplier’s management system. It is likely that you will not be a full- single audit. They are commonly time auditor, and you may only audit a few times each year. departmental, or focused on a particular process, procedure or requirement. Provisional Whilst the internal auditor grade requires the applicant to have It is important to note that the training Internal conducted audits, the provisional grade does not. It is therefore course certificate is valid for initial Auditor appropriate for professionals who have attended an internal auditor application for a period of three years, after training course, but that do not or have not had the opportunity to which it will no longer be accepted for conduct audits, yet wish to receive formal recognition of their ability. auditor certification in an initial application. Auditor The auditor grade is appropriate for those that conduct ‘full system’ Internal full system audits are accepted. audits as part of their role, but do not lead teams. They may be See 4.3 f (p.10). conducting internal full system audits, second-party full system audits, or conducting third-party audits for certification purposes. Provisional Whilst the auditor grade requires the applicant to have conducted Training course certificates are valid for a Auditor audits, the provisional grade does not. It is therefore appropriate for period of three years, after which they will professionals who have attended an auditor training course, but that typically no longer be accepted for auditor do not or have not yet had the opportunity to conduct audits. certification in initial application (see 4.3b). However, once registered at the provisional auditor grade and as long as the CPD requirements are met, you will be eligible to apply to upgrade to Auditor and Lead Auditor status, should you start to conduct audits and lead audit teams at any point in the future. Lead Auditor Most auditors working for certification bodies are lead auditors, as Internal full system audits are accepted.