Audit criteria: definition (ISO/UNDP 53001)
Audit criteria (French: critères d'audit) are the set of requirements used as the reference against which evidence is compared. For an ISO 53001 certification audit, they are the requirements of the standard, the rules the organisation has written into its own system, and the legal and contractual obligations that apply to it.
Updated: · edition covered: ISO/UNDP 53001:2026
In an ISO/UNDP 53001 audit
Criteria are fixed before the audit and stated in the audit plan. An auditor cannot raise a nonconformity against a criterion that is not there, nor against a personal idea of what would be desirable. On a subject like the SDGs, where moral expectations run high, that discipline matters.
When an organisation makes a public commitment, for example a climate trajectory, it becomes an internal requirement and joins the criteria. The auditor then checks that it is being followed. ISO 19011 provides reference definitions for these terms. See the ISO/UNDP 53001 standard.
Criteria versus evidence
Criteria and evidence are the two sides of every comparison the auditor makes. The criterion says what should be; the evidence shows what is. When a requirement leaves room for interpretation, for instance how often a risk analysis is reviewed, the auditor first reads the organisation's own rule, then tests it against the standard, rather than substituting a personal frequency.
See also
- Requirement: definition (ISO/UNDP 53001)A requirement (French: *exigence*) is a need or expectation that is stated, generally implied or obligatory.
- Audit evidence: definition (ISO/UNDP 53001)Audit evidence (French: *preuve d'audit*) is verifiable information, whether records, statements of fact or other material, relevant to the audit criteria.
- Audit finding: definition (ISO/UNDP 53001)An audit finding (French: *constat d'audit*) is the result of comparing the evidence collected with the audit criteria.