In many cases, particularly in smaller organizations, independence can be demonstrated by the freedom from responsibility for the activity being audited.
Internal audits, sometimes called first-party audits, are conducted by, or on behalf of, the organization itself for management review and other internal purposes, and may form the basis for an organization’s declaration of conformity. ISO defines audits as “Systematic, independent and documented process for obtaining audit evidence and evaluating it objectively to determine the extent to which audit criteria are fulfilled.” ISO 9001:2015 Clause 9.2 Internal Audit Definition:
