Stop treating audit prep like an emergency.

Ideally, 8-12 weeks before your scheduled audit date. That gives enough time for a mock audit or gap assessment, corrective action closure, and a final review. If you're less than 4 weeks out, we can still help, but the scope will focus on triage rather than full preparation.

Every engagement is scoped, and a few things set the effort: how often you audit, how many sites you run, the state of your last audit report, and how much you want handled between audits versus in the weeks before. A one-time mock audit is a very different engagement from an embedded, year-round partnership. After a discovery call you get a specific number for your facility, not a rate-card guess. The certification body's own audit fees are separate, paid directly to the CB.

Audit prep is targeted support in the weeks before your audit: mock audits, document review, last-minute gap closure. Ongoing compliance is year-round support: quarterly reviews, CAPA management, program updates, regulatory change monitoring. The goal of ongoing compliance is to eliminate the need for frantic audit prep entirely. Browse our guides for year-round audit readiness strategies.

Yes. We analyze your previous audit report, identify the elements dragging your score down, and build a targeted improvement plan. Common score killers include incomplete corrective actions, outdated documents, weak internal audits, and inconsistent monitoring records. All fixable with the right approach.

We can be on-site during your audit if you want us there. Some facilities find it helpful to have their consultant available as a resource. Others prefer to go it alone after thorough preparation. We're flexible. The goal is your confidence, however that looks for your team.

Consider the cost of the annual audit scramble: overtime, lost productivity, missed issues that become audit findings. Most facilities spend an estimated $5K-$15K in hidden costs per audit cycle on reactive preparation. Ongoing compliance support typically costs less than that and eliminates the scramble entirely, plus it improves your scores. Learn more about our SQF compliance software.

We help you build a CAPA process that actually works: proper root cause analysis, realistic preventive actions, verification of effectiveness, and clear accountability. All managed in Beacon with automated escalation when deadlines slip. The number one audit finding across SQF facilities is corrective actions that were opened but never properly closed.

A mock audit simulates the full audit experience: facility walkthrough, staff interviews, documentation review, and scoring. A gap assessment is a systematic evaluation of your program against the SQF Code requirements. Mock audits are better for last-minute preparation. Gap assessments are better for long-term program improvement.

The methodology is the same: facility walkthrough, staff interviews, documentation review, element-by-element scoring. The difference is that our findings are corrective: they come with root cause analysis and recommended actions. A CB auditor identifies findings; we identify findings and help you fix them before the real audit.