Am I required to provide my "audit notes" to a supplier?

Hello
I am in the middle of a heated dispute over an NCR I raised during an audit of one of our Suppliers for aerospace materials. The auditee / supplier has requested my audit notes.

I respect their confidentiality when it comes to their proprietary paperwork. I feel the audit notes are my business. They consist of my hand written notes.
My objective evidence can be found in the NCR I raised.

I can understand the request for a report, but Notes should be at the auditor's discretion shouldn't it?
What is the consensus on providing audit notes?

 

Good day @DON HUFFMAN ;
The determination for whether or not your organization's audit notes are available for auditees could be (should be?) determined by you/your organization. What is the policy? (i.e. policies tend to help "de-personalize" situations and make them less contentious).

Regardless, why is the external provider asking for the notes? Is there no sound relationship or is there distrust between auditor (organization) and auditee (external provider) ? If the relationship is poor and there is distrust, improving that relationship may be the first priority.

Was the auditee not provided a detailed summary of audit findings (positive or negative) ? If not, then it is fair for the auditee to want to understand the perception of the auditor and results of the audit.

Having said that, I would ask that your organization asks, why NOT give audit notes to auditees when requested?

Since there is no rule/standard here, I will deviate from my norm of using objectivity and offer a professional opinion...

In my professional opinion, an open and free dialogue between auditor and auditee will (ALWAYS has in my experience) provide the best relationship and results. Any organization should desire to help its external providers fully understand the organization's intent and perception. What you (auditor) may perceive/understand as reflected in your audit notes may NOT be the same as inferred by your external provider. Assuming audit notes are professional (no personal attacks/derogatory verbiage, etc..) then I would question why you would not be willing to share the notes.

Regardless, there is no rule so your organization is free to determine a "policy" and short of that, as the auditor you can determine arbitrarily not to provide notes.

A strong customer-provider relationship is always the best method.

Hope this helps, ..be well.

 

thank you

 

By the way, the auditee was presented with details of the finding. In my opinion, this NCR could open up or raise other deficiencies he would be obligated to report. When the audit concluded the quality representative present agreed to all findings. It was afterwards that the NCR was challenged by their quality manager that was not present during the audit.

 

thanks guys I think this is good advise to share and build trust