What is Stage 1 of a certification audit?

A certification audit happens in two stages. Stage 1 is the desktop review: your auditor reads your documents and systems before looking at how they work in practice.

What happens

Stage 1 is usually done remotely. Your auditor asks you to send a set of documents and your completed self-assessment, then reviews them and often follows up with a conversation. They are checking whether you have a quality system that could meet the NDIS Practice Standards, and whether you are ready to be audited on implementation.

What they usually want to see

• Your policies and procedures — governance, risk, quality, information management, privacy, rights, complaints, incidents, human resources and emergency management
• Your self-assessment against the standards that apply to you
• Business documents: your ABN and entity details, insurance certificates of currency, business plan, key personnel and delegations
• Blank templates you use with participants, such as your service agreement, consent form, support plan and risk assessment
• Your registers, even if some are still empty

What auditors commonly raise at Stage 1

• Policies that describe a large organisation rather than your business
• Documents with placeholders, another provider's name, or no version and date
• A self-assessment that says "yes" everywhere with nothing to back it up
• Missing insurance, or insurance in a name that does not match your legal entity

After Stage 1

Your auditor tells you whether you are ready to proceed to Stage 2, and what to fix first. It is normal to be asked for changes. Fixing something now is far easier than carrying it into Stage 2, so treat the feedback as free advice.

Stage 1 does not decide your registration. It prepares you for Stage 2, where your auditor looks for evidence that what your documents say is actually what happens.

Easy Compliance is independent of the NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commission, and nothing in this product guarantees an audit outcome.