ISO 22301 Lead Auditor Training — Lesson 2: Audit Planning, Document Review, Sampling, Interviews, and Evidence

Learning Objectives

• Interpret the principles, requirements, roles, and dependencies shaping audit planning, document review, sampling, interviews, and evidence.
• Apply the workflow and produce BCMS audit working papers that can withstand review.
• Analyze “one exercise represents every scenario” and recommend a proportionate evidence-based response.

Detailed Topics

• audit plan
• document review
• sampling strategy
• interview techniques
• objective evidence
• site activities
• remote auditing
• audit trails
• Competence, communication, governance, documented information, risk, and follow-up

Instructor Demonstration

The instructor demonstrates the audit planning, document review, sampling, interviews, and evidence workflow, identifies applicable inputs and responsibilities, records checkpoints in BCMS audit working papers, and contrasts the accepted state with a condition where one exercise represents every scenario.

Hands-On Exercise

Complete a controlled implementation, audit, analysis, or foundation exercise for Audit Planning, Document Review, Sampling, Interviews, and Evidence. Establish scope and criteria, collect or create evidence, examine “one exercise represents every scenario,” reach a supported conclusion, and preserve the result in BCMS audit working papers.

1. Confirm objectives, scope, roles, criteria, stakeholders, and expected outputs.
2. Perform planned activities while recording assumptions, evidence, and decisions.
3. Test a normal case, an exception, and a follow-up or improvement condition.
4. Document conclusions, owners, due dates, escalation, and verification requirements.

Scenario Analysis

• Identify the requirement or principle with the strongest influence on audit planning, document review, sampling, interviews, and evidence.
• Compare two defensible responses and explain governance, risk, and evidence trade-offs.
• Determine how BCMS audit working papers should be approved, retained, reviewed, and updated.

Troubleshooting Guidance

Separate missing evidence from ineffective practice, and distinguish a documentation issue from a control, process, governance, or competence failure. Use BCMS audit working papers to trace the earliest divergence. Treat “one exercise represents every scenario” as a hypothesis until the response is validated against the relevant requirement and intended outcome.

Validation Checklist

• The scope, criteria, stakeholders, and intended outcome for audit planning, document review, sampling, interviews, and evidence are explicit.
• The BCMS audit working papers links statements and decisions to objective, reviewable support.
• Responsibilities, competence, communication, risk, legal duties, and change impact were considered.
• Findings, corrective actions, monitoring, review triggers, and improvement ownership are clear.

Lesson Outcome

Learners can apply Audit Planning, Document Review, Sampling, Interviews, and Evidence, explain the reasoning, and defend the result through BCMS audit working papers.