Non-conformance 3.4.1 Internal audit

Hello all, I will appreciate if you can give me some guidance about the 3.4.1 Internal audit BRC. I had a non-conformance because I did not have the 4 required audits. It did not happen because when the company decided to pursue BRC certification it was the end of August but the audit was February so we can only do 2 audits based on quarterly schedule and the procedure was not clear enough. I plan to update the procedure, create a check list for internal audit, training and specify that next audit is on April-June and July-September. Will that be enough to resolve the non-conformance? Will I benefit on performing an internal audit a week before the schedule? Thanks in advance for your thoughts.

Generally yes, with something like this it is acceptable to show that there is a defined schedule including future events. But keep in mind that the four audit dates per year requirement is a minimum, and that the actual audit frequency needs to be determined based on risk (it's BRC - everything up to and including how many sugars to put in your coffee needs a corresponding risk assessment ;) ).

Audits often occur part-way through one's own annual internal audit schedule, so it's normal for this to not be "complete" at the point of audit, and I'd therefore guess that the lack of clarity around the procedure and schedule was perhaps the more significant element in the auditor's eyes.

Hello, I wanted just to come back and say thank you for your reply. I established the schedule for next audits and define what, how, and when the sections of GFS will be audited. The corrective actions was accepted.

Wish you well!