ISO 9001 Certification Costs

Planning ISO 9001 certification? Let's talk about the cost of the project. Cost of ISO 9001 implementation and certification process includes three main components:

• Cost of implementation

• Cost of certification, and

• Cost of maintenance of the quality management system and certification

The cost of your ISO 9001 initial certification and maintenance of your certification depends on:

• The number of employees in the organization,

• Your registrar's audit day charges,

• Auditor team travel expenses,

• Management fees,

• Certificate charges, and

• Other expenses

The number of employees in the organization. The number of assessor days for certification, surveillance and re-certification audits is prescribed to registrars by International Accreditation Forum, Inc. IAF Mandatory Document For Duration of QMS and EMS Audits. All accredited registrars are expected to adhere to this guideline:

This table includes company sizes up to 10,700 employees with a recommendation to follow above progression for companies larger than 10,700 employees.

The number of assessor days for surveillance audits depend on the frequency of surveillance audits. Depending on your registrar's internal procedures surveillance audits may be conducted:

• Every six months (5 audits),

• At six, 18 and 30 months (3 audits), and

• At 12 and 24 months (2 audits)

The number of audit days may be adjusted based on companies' exclusions, complexity of products and processes  Audit day charges depend on your registrar and may range from $1,100 to $1,500 in the US.

Audit team travel expenses. These expenses include cost of airfare, hotels, meals, rental cars and other reasonable business travel expenses. Budgeting your ISO 9001 certification project, plan daily business expenses around $400 - $450 in the US. For international locations, plan to be billed for an economy or business class airfare for your auditors.

Management fees. Some registrars charge annual management fees of around $800. Most registrars charge clients for their certificates. Usually these fees are around $50 per certificate.

Learn how Quality Works can help you with your ISO 9001 certification program or call us today if you have questions about ISO 9001 certification process.