Certified Quality Auditor: Description, Roles and Requirements

About ASQ Certification

American Society for Quality (ASQ) provides the global community with the expertise, solutions, and tools to aid organizations and individuals to improve the products, services, and experiences. We rely upon for our health, safety, and daily lives. ASQ’s mission is to increase the use and effect of quality in response to the diverse needs of the world.

ASQ certification is a recognition by ASQ that an individual has demonstrated a proficiency within, and comprehension of, a particular body of knowledge.

ASQ certifications are recognized worldwide. ASQ Certification required development tools that help quality professionals show they are on top of regulations, of expertise, and industry standards.

People with ASQ credentials don’t just improve their companies’ bottom lines; they build careers.

ASQ Certified Quality Auditor (CQA) Certification

The CQA is a professional who understands the standards and principles of quality, and the auditing techniques of examining, evaluating, questioning, and reporting to determine a quality system’s capacity and insufficiencies.

The CQA analyzes all components of a quality system and judges its degree of compliance with the criteria of industrial management, and quality evaluation and control systems.

The CQA itself is quality control and assurance certification of a person’s competency. The CQA certification assures that the certificate holder can plan, conduct, and report almost any type of quality audit, whether it is a quality system, process, or product audit. The certificate tests whether the applicant can develop and develop a logical, step-by-step approach to reduce risks, correct deficiencies, and ensure they do not happen.

The Certified Quality Auditor Certification Exam candidates must have worked in a full-time, paid role. Paid intern, co-op, or any other course work cannot be applied for the work experience requirement.

The CQA Certification Exam candidates must have eight years of on the job experience in one or more of the areas of the Certified Quality Auditor Body of Knowledge.

At least three years of this experience must be in a decision-making position. It may or may not hold management or supervisory positions.

For candidates who were certified by ASQ as a quality engineer, software quality engineer, reliability engineer, quality manager, or supplier quality professional the experience used to qualify for certification in these fields applies to certification as a quality auditor.

Education Requirements

Candidates who have achieved a degree from a college, university or technical school with accreditation accepted by ASQ, part of the eight-year experience requirement will be waived, as follows only one of these waivers may be claimed:

• Diploma from a technical or trade school: One year will be waived
• Associate degree: Two years waived
• Bachelor’s degree: Four years waived
• Master’s or doctorate: Five years waived
• Degrees or Diplomas from educational institutions outside the United States must be similar to degrees from U.S. educational institutions.

Expectations from CQA

Must possess the knowledge and ability to adequately conduct different types of audits as suitable for the method, relationship, or purpose of the audit, and must know the impact those audit types will have on the audit scope and outcomes.

Must be able to attend in a professional, ethical, and objective manner using and understanding applicable standards or requirements, with a knowledge of possible legal and financial ramifications.

Must be able to communicate, effectively plan, and execute an audit within its defined scope, including scheduling resources, conducting required meetings in performance of the audit. And using proper techniques to identify, gather, and classify objective evidence.

Must be able to verify, communicate audit results, document, and develop an audit report, and evaluate the effectiveness of corrective action and follow up.

Must possess interpersonal skills to conduct interviews, resolve conflict, and make presentations while participating as an audit team member. It knows the unique responsibilities of the lead auditor and team facilitator.

Must be able to select proper quality and auditing tools and techniques and use them effectively in a kind of in practical applications.

CQA Body of Knowledge

The syllabus topics in Body of Knowledge include subtext specifications and the cognitive level at which the questions will be written.

It will provide useful guidance for both the Exam Development Committee and the candidate preparing to take the exam.

The subtext is not meant to limit the subject material or be all-inclusive of that material that will be covered in the exam. It is intended to explain the type of content that will be included in the exam.

Essential Information Regarding CQA

A certified quality auditor manages and administers testing to assure that products meet established standards of appearance or performance. CQA Certification needs differing levels of work experience and education. Although a high school diploma is a minimum education required for this job, completion of some postsecondary coursework can substitute for work experience to meet the certification requirements.

Job Description for a Certified Quality Auditor

A certified quality auditor ensures that standards of excellence are maintained during the production of goods or the execution of services. Nearly two-thirds of all quality auditing positions were found in the manufacturing industry. Quality auditors perform inspections at all stages of production, including reviews of raw materials, manufactured components, and finished products.

Salary of CQA

The Payscale reported that quality auditor earned a median salary of $63,287 per year.

Certified Quality Auditor Roles and Responsibilities

Quality auditors discuss a product’s physical appearance, composition, and functionality. In the case of food inspections, audits can include touch, taste, or smell. Roles also include evaluating the procedures that make up the production process, as well as inspecting and calibrating auditing tools, such as scales, calipers, and other testing tools.

Certified quality auditors supervise teams of inspectors and participate in quality control audits themselves. Auditors develop company-specific testing parameters, in addition to administering audits established by the International Organization for Standardization. After testing is complete, auditors write assessments that report the number of accepted and rejected products.

Make sure to comply with all the quality parameters at any point of time in the organization.

Contact with other departments to ensure quality standards are met and provide recommendations for improvement of quality.

Assure all the quality specifications are according to the organization policy.

Inspect the work processes and other related characters once in a month and submit the quality audit report to higher management.

Prepare quality audit report and review at periodical intervals to track the progress after the audit.

Ensure quality standards for facilities and office tools in the organization that in turn, assure smooth functioning at all levels.

Conduct random surprise inspection in different departments that ensures quality checks at all levels apart from making it well amongst all employees working in the organization.

Maintain all the files and documents associated with the quality procedures, quality audit, etc. in an orderly fashion at all times.

Provide a report for non-compliance on all phases of quality assurance and bring it to the notice of the key persons liable for such functions in the organization.

Assure compliance of quality parameters for external clients and quality certification standards as may apply to the organization.

Update the quality assurance plan of the organization by proposing changes according to the International Quality policy regulations.

Manage the annual quality assurance budget for the organization and submit to the top management of the organization for approval.

Summing-up

Many qualities make a successful Quality Auditor, but most importantly, they need to have excellent attention to detail.

At the same time, they want to be able to take in the big picture and analyze the full production process to identify obstacles. They also should have functional problem-solving skills to develop solutions to any questions or deficiencies identified through an audit.

A good Quality Auditor ought to have the ability to multi-task and prioritize a multitude of competing duties. Quality Auditors also need to have excellent people skills and leadership skills. It involves being comfortable with meeting and able to challenge other peoples or behaviors and actions confidently.