Certification for Consultants & Their Clients

A great many of the organisations we certify arrive having already worked with a consultant. Someone has written the procedures, run the internal audits, closed the obvious gaps and got the business ready. That is a sensible route to certification, and it usually makes for a smoother audit.

What it does not do — and must not do — is blur the two roles.

What we need to quote

If you are a consultant seeking a quote on behalf of a client, or a business whose consultant has asked you to approach a certification body, send us:

• The standard or standards required — ISO 9001, 45001, 14001, 22000, 13485, 50001, HACCP, FSSC 22000 or another scheme
• Employee numbers, including shifts and contractors
• Number of sites and their locations
• The intended scope of certification, in the words you want on the certificate
• Whether the business is currently certified, and with whom
• Any deadline you are working to — a customer requirement, a tender, an export order

We will come back with the audit days, the stages involved and a fixed price.

How the audit runs

• 1
  

  Application and quote

  We confirm scope, calculate audit duration against the standard and issue a fixed quote.

• 2
  

  Stage 1 review

  We review your documented system and confirm you are ready for the main audit. Gaps are reported, not fixed by us.

• 3
  

  Stage 2 audit

  On site. We check that what is written down matches what is happening, and record where it does not.

• 4
  

  Certification decision

  Made independently of the audit team. Your certificate is issued on a clear decision, not on the auditor’s say-so.

• 5
  

  Surveillance

  Annual surveillance audits over the three-year cycle, then recertification.

What we will not do

• Write your procedures, your manual or your internal audit programme
• Tell you how to close a non-conformance — we will tell you precisely what the finding is, and your consultant decides how to resolve it
• Recommend a particular consultancy, or suggest that certification is quicker or easier through any one of them
• Certify a management system that ACERTA has consulted on

If that sounds restrictive, it is meant to. An auditor who helps you build the system cannot then judge it, and a certificate issued on that basis is worth less to the customer who asked for it.

Why consultants refer clients to us

• You deal with the auditor directly. No call centre, no account manager relaying questions.
• Findings are written plainly. Your client should be able to read a non-conformance and understand what to do about it.
• Fixed quotes. Audit days calculated against the standard, priced up front, no surprises at surveillance.
• Multi-standard audits combined where a client holds more than one certification, which saves days and disruption.
• Melbourne based, auditing Australia-wide.