My Reading on ASQ CQA HB Part I-IA~IE-s

Figure I.1 Types of audits.
Source: J.P. Russell & Associates training materials. Used with permission.
Customer
Second-Party
Customer audit your organization
External audit
Second-Party
You audit supplier
Internal
Organization
First-party
Audit your own organization
First-party audits are ones
within the organization itself (the
same as internal audits or selfassessment)
and are inside the
circle. Second party audits are
audits of suppliers or of
customers crossing into the circle
to audit the organization (their
supplier). Third-party audits are
totally independent of the
customer- supplier relationship
and are off to the right in the
diagram. Third- party audits may
result in independent certification
of a product, process, or system.
Supplier
Charlie Chong/ Fion Zhang