What should an auditor do if they are assigned an audit but have a potential conflict of interest with the client?
It is the responsibility of the auditor to inform the Certification Body of any potential conflicts with an assigned client. There are different situations where a conflict of interest could occur. For example, if an auditor also produces/handles the same crops as the client, there may be potential to gain access to privileged or confidential information of a competitor. This possibility should be declared to the CB. In some cases the auditor would have to be reassigned, or the client would be called and informed, and can request a different auditor.
November 3rd, 2017 at 04:25 pm