A ready-to-use internal audit checklist for your ISO 9001:2015 quality management system — clauses 4 to 10, grouped, with a representative audit question for each requirement and columns for conformity, objective evidence, NC grade and corrective action. Download it, delete the sample row, and you can run a real QMS internal audit today. No sign-up, no watermark.
Direct download — the file opens in Excel, Google Sheets or LibreOffice.
This is a quality-management-system internal audit checklist. If you are the quality manager, management representative (MR), internal auditor or a process owner responsible for keeping your ISO 9001:2015 certification in good standing, this is built for you. It audits your processes, controls and objective evidence against the requirements of ISO 9001:2015 — it does not audit your accounts. This is a compliance and quality internal audit, not a financial audit, so treat it as your internal check before the certification body or a customer arrives.
An internal audit under clause 9.2 is not a formality. It is your own honest look at whether the quality system you wrote down is the quality system you actually run. A good checklist keeps that look structured: every auditor asks the same standard questions, every finding is tied back to a clause, and nothing important gets skipped because someone was in a hurry. That is exactly what this template gives you.
The workbook is a single sheet with a bold, frozen header so the column titles stay visible as you scroll, and the questions are grouped under each clause. One clearly-marked SAMPLE row at the top shows how a completed line looks — delete it before you start. Here is what each column is for:
| Column | What you record in it |
|---|---|
| Clause | The ISO 9001:2015 sub-clause the question maps to (e.g. 7.1.5, 8.5.2), so every finding is traceable to the standard. |
| Requirement | The short title of the requirement being checked — plain language for the auditee. |
| Audit Question | The representative question the auditor asks the process owner. Pre-filled and editable. |
| Auditee / Process | Who or which process you audited — the person, department or line the answer came from. |
| Conformity (C / NC / OFI) | Your verdict: C = conforming, NC = non-conformance, OFI = opportunity for improvement. |
| Objective Evidence | The proof you actually saw — document numbers, records, readings, what you observed on the floor. |
| NC Grade (Major / Minor) | For every NC, whether it is a major or a minor non-conformance. |
| Action / Remarks | The corrective action agreed, the owner and the target date — your bridge to closure. |
Because it is a plain Excel file with no locked cells and no macros, you can add rows for your own process-specific or customer-specific checks, delete anything outside your audit scope, and reuse the sheet for every audit in the programme.
Clauses 1 to 3 of ISO 9001:2015 are scope, normative references and terms — they are not audited. The auditable requirements live in clauses 4 to 10, and the checklist covers all seven, with representative questions under each sub-clause:
Internal/external issues, interested parties, QMS scope, and the processes and their interactions.
Top-management commitment, customer focus, the quality policy, roles, responsibilities and authorities.
Risks and opportunities, measurable quality objectives with plans, and planning of changes.
Resources, infrastructure, calibration, competence, awareness, communication and documented information.
Operational planning, requirements review, design, purchasing, production control, traceability, release and nonconforming output.
Customer satisfaction, analysis and evaluation, internal audit and management review.
Improvement, nonconformity and corrective action, and continual improvement of the QMS.
Five simple steps take you from a blank sheet to closed findings:
Open the file, delete the sample row, and decide the scope — which process, department or plant, which clauses apply and who the auditee is.
Work down clauses 4 to 10. For each requirement, ask the audit question, talk to the process owner and look for real objective evidence — not just a claim.
Mark each line C, NC or OFI and write the objective evidence you saw in that column — document numbers, records, readings, observations.
For each NC, grade it Major or Minor and confirm the clause it breaches, so the finding is traceable straight back to ISO 9001:2015.
In Action / Remarks, capture the corrective action, owner and target date — then chase each finding through to verified closure before the next audit.
A checklist is a great start. Where it hurts is after the audit — copying every NC into a separate tracker, chasing owners by email, and hoping nothing slips before the next audit. Fast Audit keeps the whole loop on one system: reusable clause-mapped templates, an approved annual audit programme, mobile checklist entry, findings graded major or minor, and corrective actions that run to closure with owners, due dates and reminders — a clause-traceable evidence trail ready when a certification body or customer audits you.
Yes. The Excel file is a direct, ungated download — no email form, no sign-up and no watermark. Download it, save your own copy and use it across as many internal audits as you like. We publish it openly because it is genuinely useful and we would rather earn your trust than gate a spreadsheet.
It covers the auditable clauses 4 to 10 — Context of the Organization, Leadership, Planning, Support, Operation, Performance Evaluation and Improvement — grouped by clause with representative, standard audit questions per sub-clause. Clauses 1 to 3 are scope, references and terms, so they are not audited. You can add rows for any customer-specific or process-specific questions your organization needs.
No. This is a quality-management-system internal audit checklist for ISO 9001:2015 compliance — it audits your processes, controls and evidence against the standard, not your accounts or financial statements. It is meant for a quality manager, management representative, internal auditor or process owner running the QMS internal audit programme.
C means the requirement is conforming — you saw evidence it is met. NC means a non-conformance — the requirement is not met, which you then grade Major or Minor. OFI means an opportunity for improvement — not a breach of the standard, but a suggestion the auditee can act on. Keeping these separate keeps your findings honest and your report easy for a certification body to read.
Yes. It is a plain Excel file with no locked cells or macros. Edit any question, add rows under a clause for your own checks, or delete lines that do not apply to your scope. The sample row is clearly marked so you can see how a completed line looks before you delete it.
In a spreadsheet you copy each NC into a separate corrective-action tracker, chase owners by email and hope nothing is missed before the next audit. That manual re-keying is exactly where audit programmes leak. If you want findings to flow straight into NC and CAPA closure — with owners, due dates, reminders and a clause-traceable evidence trail — that is what Fast Audit does on one system.
Guides and pages that pair well with this checklist:
