Should corrected audit findings be presented ??

An auditee has corrected a finding during the audit before the closign meeting and should the auditor report and present the finding in the closing meeting?As per Allan Sayle in his "Management Audit" book, all finding should not be presented and reported in the Closing meeting and as per ASQC's text,it mentioned that it should be reported and presented in the Closing Meeting as it is the product of the audit and should give a true reflection of the audit.
It is pretty confusing for those auditors where consistency does not come into the picture!!

Any recommendation/input/qns/comments welcome.

Eugene

[Marc]

All findings should be presented whether corrected or not.

Well, in my company, during the Internal Quality Audit, when the noncompliance was corrected on site, there's no need to present this on the closing meeting, the only thing that we presented are the noncompliance that were not be able to correct during the audit of a particular group in a scheduled time. The auditee may have corrected it after the period of the audit of his group but still it would be raised as noncompliance and need to be presented on the closing meeting.

[Marc]

In my opinion, not reporting findings is a buy off. It is bad business. It is nothing less than hiding problem(s). I have heard the old "We fixed the problem..." many times - but let's face it - If you don't report it/record it, then there is no follow up to know if that 'immediate, on the spot' fix even works. No follow-up. If a problem is fixed, it (in my opinion) means nothihng if the 'fix' isn't validated/verified as effective. To me this is nothing less than saying: "I won't do it again! Promise!"

Not reporting findings? An easy way out for violators. And what about history? The same problem at every audit is not identified as recurrent. Every time it's the same, tired response: "We fixed it". If not recorded and reported it can happen every audit and thus be a continuous problem while no one knows it.

IMHO - a very, very bad idea.

[BRoyal]

Agree with Mr. Smith. I always present all findings,including those that have been corrected during the course of the audit.

The reason is that in the auditee's haste to "close" the finding before the outbriefing, they often overlook the true root cause. As a result the corrective action is more along the line of stopping the bleeding than preventing recurrence. And the opportunity for preventive action is entirely overlooked.

[Russ Jackson]

Auditing normally allows only a sampling of the sub-processes and documents in a quality system. Therefore, findings that are corrected either on the spot or verifed later by the auditor should be reported in the closing meeting and documented. This allows the auditee to determine the effectiveness of the CA and assess the extent to which the type finding is occuring within the quality system. In the closing the auditor should report the finding and identify the need for followup action by the auditees.

[barb butrym]

an auditor is under no obligation to veer from the audit and back track to review a corrective action. If the finding is corrected in his presence immediately (an opps that typically will need no further CA?), then note in the audit trail accordingly......and move on. Do you report at the end? Depends, was it a real "one off" oops....probably not. Does it appear to be a weakspot symptom? yes....All this is a comfort level thing with the auditor. I will take any formal CA submitted, and put aside "to review if time permits" But seldom does time permit until after the closing meeting....if at all. This too depends on the finding, and the severity. Some stuff is clerical....