The Principles That Make an Audit Credible

Audit credibility does not come from the checklist. It comes from six principles that an auditor is expected to work to — the same set recognised across management-system auditing standards.

The six principles

Principle	What it means in practice
Integrity	You audit honestly, within your competence, and you do not let pressure change a finding.
Fair presentation	You report what you found — including the things that went well, and including disagreements you could not resolve.
Due professional care	You apply judgement proportionate to the importance of what you are auditing and the confidence placed in your report.
Confidentiality	Information obtained during the audit is not used for personal gain or disclosed outside the agreed audience.
Independence	You do not audit your own work, and you have no conflict of interest in the area under audit.
Evidence-based approach	Conclusions rest on verifiable evidence, sampled in a way that supports the confidence you are claiming.

Independence in a small organisation

In a small company, absolute independence is often impossible — everyone is close to everything. The practical answer is not to give up on the principle but to make the compromise visible: swap auditors between departments, have a second person review findings in areas of overlap, and record in the audit plan exactly where independence was limited and how that was managed. An acknowledged limitation is defensible. A hidden one is not.