Customer Requesting 3rd Party Audit Report (AIB) - Help!

[sdiso]

Has anyone had customers request your full audit report from a 3rd party audit (in my case, AIB)? They won't accept just the score and rating, they want the entire report.

I'm hesitant to send the entire thing as it contains sections that put our company in a less than flattering light.

Any help would be much appreciated.

Thank you

 

[PorschePilot]

Full audit report as it applies to your mutual business dealings correct? I guess I'd not be too apt to open my complete audits to other than by legal requirement, IRS, State Revenue, etc.

 

[tomvehoski]

They can also request your bank account numbers and naked pictures of your spouse, but that does not mean you have to provide them. Unless you have some contractural obligation to divulge it, tell them it is proprietary and not available for review. There is potentially way too much information in there that could be used against you, including customers, suppliers, designs, etc. I personally think the request is unreasonable, and have never made or received such a request.

 

[PorschePilot]

On rereading this, I agree with Tom 100%, time to get that lawyer you've had on retainer jump up on this one.

 

[silentrunning]

I make my audit reports available for any customer to come and check out, BUT, no copies ever leave our facility. I developed this policy from reading input on the Cove and have never had a customer complain about it.

Doug

 

[tsmith7858]

Unfortunately this is an all to common request, particularly within the food industry which is where AIB resides.

There was a similar discussion on a different forum that I use for food safety and food quality information (IFSQN) and the basic consensus was similar to the response here but it all comes down to whether you want the business or not!

Generally I start with scores, and then offer summary and when a full report is requested our company president determines if we send it. We have had requests all the way to corrective actions issued and responses.

It sounds crazy but we actually request it from our suppliers and gladly accept it from the ones that are willing to hand it over!

 

[arios]

If your company has a concern sharing this report then indicate to them why, for instance: your company's own policies in terms of privacy and offer them just a brief summary, e.g. Audit conclusion, audit dates, amount of NC's if any, whether CA has been taken, auditor name and audit organization's name.

 

[tomvehoski]

It sounds crazy but we actually request it from our suppliers and gladly accept it from the ones that are willing to hand it over!

What do you actually do with the information?

 

[tsmith7858]

What do you actually do with the information?

We review it as part of supplier approval. If there are enough concerns we will ask for explanations or if we feel it warrants it, we will schedule an on site audit.

Being a small company we do not have the resources to audit all suppliers on our own and we rely on 3rd party audits to give us an idea of the supplier. We also use a lot customer determined suppliers and if our customer has approved or audited the supplier we will get their information.

 

[Kales Veggie]

On rereading this, I agree with Tom 100%, time to get that lawyer you've had on retainer jump up on this one.

Some much for good customer relations.

Of course you should share this information. Your customer wants to know how effective your ISO or TS system is. Weaknesses in your system can affect the quality of his product.