10 steps of an ISO 37001 Certification Audit

by abacnews · Published October 4, 2022 · Updated October 17, 2022

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An ISO 37001 Certification Audit is a systematic, independent, objective and documented process for gathering facts. These will help you identify areas for improvement and ensure you have best practice processes in place with respect to Anti-Bribery Management Systems (ABMS).

Corruption and Bribery affect any organisation, large or small, public, or not-for-profit. These have the potential to cause severe harm to your business, including financial loss, dire legal consequences, damage to your brand, company’s reputation and sustainable development. Therefore, anti-bribery needs to be managed correctly and effectively.

ISO has developed a standard – ISO 37001:2016 ABMS – to help organisations promote an ethical business culture. This standard is designed to help your organisation implement an Anti-Bribery Management System (ABMS), and/or enhance the controls you currently have. It helps to reduce the risk of bribery (and corruption) occurring and can demonstrate to your stakeholders that you have put in place internationally recognised good-practice anti-bribery (and anti-corruption) controls.

ISO 37001 certifies that your organisation has implemented reasonable and proportionate measures to prevent bribery. These measures involve top-level leadership, training, bribery risk assessment, due diligence adequacy, financial and commercial controls, reporting, audit, and investigation.

The ISO 37001 Certification Audit is comprised of 10 key steps:

Audit Confirmation
Pre-Assessment Audit
Stage 1 Audit – Review of Policies, Procedures, Documents; Interviews
Stage 2 Audit – Implementation Audit; Site Visits; Evidence Evaluation
Follow-up Audit – For Non-Conformities; Corrective Action Plan
Recommendation for Certification
Certification Decision
Awarding Certificate
Continual Improvement and Surveillance
Re-Certification Audit

Prove that your business is ethical

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