How the audit works

I did my audit on Teams, but you could equally be do it in person. We booked a whole day for the audit, although we did finish earlier than planned. 

It was exhausting! You need to be on good form to be able to explain everything in French clearly and to respond when the auditor is picking holes in your systems. 

You will have one full audit at the beginning and a second “audit de surveillance” after 18 months. This is the one where they just check that everything is going ok, and If you had any minor non-conformities in the first audit, they will look at these to see that you are now conform. Then you do it all again after 3 years!

Non-conformities

During the audit, you can have up to 4 minor non-conformities and still pass the Qualiopi. Any more than that, and it becomes a major non-conformity. For most of the indicators, if you don't meet the requirements, you get a minor non-conformity. However, 11 of the indicators are red, which means that if you don’t satisfy the requirements, you immediately get a major non-conformity. 

For the minor non-conformities, these will be detailed in the auditor’s report and you have to respond to the report by writing an attestation of what you are planning to do to lift these non-conformities. You will then receive your Qualiopi certificate, but you must have put in place your actions at the latest 6 months after the audit. These indicators will then be checked again at the 18 month audit and they will check that you have proofs from 6 months after the audit and onwards. 

If you have any major non-conformities, you won’t get your Qualiopi certificate immediately. Instead you have 3 months to send in proof that you have resolved the issues. If everything is ok, you will then get your certification, and of course these indicators will be looked at again in detail in the 18 month audit.