Internal audit: definition (ISO/UNDP 53001)
An internal audit (French: audit interne) is one the organisation conducts itself, or has conducted on its behalf, to check that its SDG management system follows its own rules and the standard and is effectively implemented. ISO 53001 requires such audits at planned intervals, within an audit programme.
Updated: · edition covered: ISO/UNDP 53001:2026
In an ISO/UNDP 53001 audit
The certification auditor reviews the internal audit programme, the reports produced and what happened next. Three things are verified: internal auditors do not audit their own work, the whole scope is covered over the period, and their findings led to corrections.
An internal audit that finds nothing, year after year, is not necessarily a sign of a perfect system. The certification auditor may question its depth and compare the internal team's results with their own. Subclause 9.2 of clause 9 of the ISO/UNDP 53001 standard sets the expectation.
Internal audit versus certification audit
Both rely on the same method, but their purposes differ. The internal audit serves top management and can go deeper into one process; the certification audit serves third parties and samples the whole system. Their results feed different decisions: the first the management review, the second the certification decision.
See also
- Certification audit: definition (ISO/UNDP 53001)A certification audit (French: *audit de certification*) is the initial audit through which a certification body checks that an SDG management system meets ISO 53001 before a first certification decision.
- Impartiality: definition (ISO/UNDP 53001)Impartiality (French: *impartialité*) means that a certification body assesses and decides objectively, without its judgements being swayed by commercial, financial or personal interests.
- 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.
- Management review: definition (ISO/UNDP 53001)Management review (French: *revue de direction*) is the examination of the SDG management system by top management at planned intervals: results, changes in context, feedback from interested parties, audits, resources.
- ISO/UNDP 53001 clause 9: what the auditor checksISO 53001 clause 9 deals with performance evaluation.