Keep your auditor.

Can you?  Do you want too?  What are the pros and cons?  Let me say from the outset that keeping the same auditor will always be my preference.  But it isn’t all ‘beer and skittles’ if you do.  ‘Familiarity breeding contempt’ can cause issues, so will the ‘forest for the trees’.

But enough of the desk calendar quotes.  Utilising the same auditor is a very personal decision and one which you must make yourself and or manage yourself.  If your certification body (CB) won’t allow you to keep with the auditor of your choice, then it becomes a bigger picture decision on whether to keep the CB.  Most will accommodate this request, but there might be logistical issues especially if they have a centralised booking function.  As will the fact that you are not one of their top 20 to 50 clients.  But I have blogged at nausea on this before.  Having an auditor learn and grow with your quality management system, learn and grow with your company brings about economies of scale and a true empathy with goals and objectives.  You won’t have to waste your time teaching a new person the nuances or history of the company or system and once you have a professional relationship with your auditor you can utilise their experience and knowledge in some truly value added auditing (an oxymoron for some I know).  Just remember to work on the relationship and manage the relationship should it not meet your expectations.  This is still a client / supplier relationship and it should be treated as such.  So stick with the one that meets your needs most and change if they don’t.