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Auditing Services

All FCL ISO Consultants are trained as Auditors as well as Management Consultants.

A number are also freelance Auditors for at least one Certification Body for the management standards that FCL provides services for and have a range of audit skills such as IRCA Certified Auditors and CISA.

The following types of audit can be undertaken by FCL ISO Consultants:

Gap Analysis


Audits are not a thorough investigation into the detail of each and every one of a Client’s activity, procedure or process. That is the role of a Gap Analysis.

Audits collects evidence by sampling and as such, it is never a thorough review and may fail to detect problems. However, since auditing is usually regular and repeated at defined intervals it is likely that it will detect most problems over a period of time.

A Gap Analysis, on the other hand, takes much longer than an audit as it is a much more thorough and systematic review. There is less emphasis on the detailed objective evidence and more emphasis on the overall assessment. The results are typically discussed with you, the Client, and are presented with agreed actions and recommendations. The organisation performing the Gap Analysis usually performs the remediation work identified.

A Gap Analysis may be carried out for one of the following purposes:-

  • to determine the conformity or non-conformity of a system with published standards;
  • to meet regulatory requirements;
  • to provide you with an opportunity to improve their systems.

General Security Audits


FCL offers a range of general security auditing services for Clients who may not actually want to gain certification to ISO 27001 or even claim compliance to it. FCL can:

  • use your own standards to audit against and develop an audit work programme for them;
  • develop a specific audit work programme for you based on your specific requirements;
  • perform a Management System or other Standard audit against your defined scope.

These audits are aimed at identifying for you where there are possible areas for improvement and to reduce any risk exposure that you are currently facing.

These audits are, by their very nature, very flexible and allow you to chose the type of audit you want, the scope of the audit and the standard (or mix of standards) that you want the scope audited against.

A full audit report is produced with the scope defined and the audit work programme so you can see exactly what was covered in the audit.

Internal Management System or Other Audits (First Party Audits)


These are audits carried out by you on your own systems, otherwise called internal audits.

Some Clients do not have the in-house audit skills, others want to ensure objectivity and consistency in their auditing across different systems, standards and processes and so will use FCL Auditors to perform the task..

FCL can provide audit teams to perform internal audits to the required management standards with Auditors at Certification Body level or the level appropriate to the scope that you want audited.

Formal audit reports are produced to the level that you require.

Supplier Audits (Second Party Audits)


FCL can provide audit teams to perform supplier audits to the required management standards with Auditors at Certification Body level or the level appropriate to the scope that you want audited.

Formal audit reports are produced to the level that you require.

Pre-Certification Body Audits (Pseudo Third Party Audits)


FCL can perform pre-certification audits for Stage 1 or stage 2 Certification Body audits for you for your chosen Management System with Auditors who are also Certification Body Auditors. This gives you the final check on your management systems before undergoing a formal Certification Body audit, with the possible reputational ramifications of failing a formal Certification Body audit.

Benefits of using FCL as an External Audit Partner


Benefits of using FCL as an external auditing partner are that it can

  • enhance stakeholder confidence.
  • provide a consistent audit process of known quality and consistency across your organisation for all audit activity;
  • reduce audit costs for external auditors;
  • reveal more cost saving opportunities;
  • reveal more process based opportunities for improvement;
  • save on audit time;