ISO-9001-Lead-Auditor PECB QMS ISO 9001:2015 Lead Auditor Exam Free Practice Exam Questions (2026 Updated)
Prepare effectively for your PECB ISO-9001-Lead-Auditor QMS ISO 9001:2015 Lead Auditor Exam certification with our extensive collection of free, high-quality practice questions. Each question is designed to mirror the actual exam format and objectives, complete with comprehensive answers and detailed explanations. Our materials are regularly updated for 2026, ensuring you have the most current resources to build confidence and succeed on your first attempt.
You are auditing an organisation that has been certificated to ISO 9001 for ten years. The organisation is a privately-owned, multi-site car tyre fitting
organisation. You are auditing one of the sites. You are auditing the car tyre fitting service. You are interviewing the Site Manager (SM).
You: " Would you explain the car tyre fitting service? "
SM: " Of course. Customers typically call us by phone with their requirements. We ask them what they want. We check whether we have the tyres
they need in stock. If we don ' t have the tyres in stock, we contact our supplier to confirm when they would be able to supply the tyres. We then
determine the cost. We then check what availability we have in our busy schedule to fit the new tyres. We then inform the customer with details of
cost and when we can fit the tyres. If the customer is happy to proceed with the booking, we update our Work Schedule. The same process applies
for customers who walk into our office and for online requests. "
You: " What information do you retain should there be a defect reported by a manufacturer of tyres that you have fitted? "
SM: " We maintain records of customer names, addresses and contact phone numbers. We maintain a record of the type of tyre fitted and the tyre
manufacturers batch information. We also maintain a record of the registration numbers of the vehicles we have fitted tyres to. All records are in our
Work Schedule. "
Which two of the following options you would take to enable you to gather further audit evidence to validate what the Site Manager
has told you?
An audit team of three people is conducting a Stage 2 audit to ISO 9001 of an engineering organisation that manufactures sacrificial anodes for the oll and gas industry in marine environments. These are aluminium products designed to prevent corrosion of submerged
steel structures. You, as one of the auditors, find that the organisation has shipped anodes for Project DK in the Gulf of Mexico before the galvanic efficiency test results for the anodes have been fully analysed and reported as required by the customer. The Quality
Manager explains that the Managing Director authorised release of the anodes to avoid late delivery as penalties would be imposed. The customer was not informed since the tests very rarely fall below the required efficiency. You raise a nonconformity against clause 8.6 of ISO 9001.
Which of the following options for the best description of the nonconformity?
You are carrying out an audit at a single-site organisation seeking certification to ISO 9001 for the first time. The organization manufactures cosmetics for major retailers and the name of the retailer supplied appears on the product packaging. Sales turnover has increased significantly over the past five years.
You are interviewing the new Product Development Manager. You note that a software application called SWIFT is used to help control the product development process.
You have gathered audit evidence as outlined in the table. Match the ISO 9001 clause 8.3 extracts to the audit evidence.
You, as auditor, are in dialogue with the quality lead and managing director of a small business that supplies specialist laboratory equipment and furniture.
You: “I’d like to look at how you manage change in the organisation. What changes have you made as a business, say, over the last 12 months?”
Auditee: “We have made some strategic changes, the main one being that we no longer manufacture our own products in-house.”
You: “That sounds like quite a significant change. What has been the impact of that?”
Auditee: “We now mainly sell other manufacturers’ products, under their brand names, and have outsourced the manufacture of our own brand products to one of our suppliers.”
You: “What were the reasons for making the change?”
Auditee: “Our manufacturing section was a small operation, and we struggled to cope with fluctuations in demand. During busy periods, we found it hard to meet lead times, and in quiet periods, we had staff with little to do. This was having an impact on customer satisfaction, and meant we had to charge premium prices that made our product uncompetitive.”
You: “How did you go about the change?”
In relation to the auditor’s question about how the change was managed, the auditee mentions the steps listed below. The steps represent different elements of the Plan/Do/Check/Act cycle.
Select three steps which apply to the ‘check’ element of the cycle.
Scenario 3:
Fin-Pro is a financial institution in Austria offering commercial banking, wealth management, and investment services. The company faced a significant loss of customers due to failing to improve service quality as they expanded.
To regain customer confidence, top management implemented a QMS based on ISO 9001. After a year, they contacted ACB, a local certification body, to pursue ISO 9001 certification.
The audit team was led by Emilia, an experienced lead auditor, and included three auditors. After an agreement was reached, ACB sent the audit objectives to the audit team.
The audit team began by gathering information about Fin-Pro’s understanding of ISO 9001 requirements. While reviewing documented information, they noticed missing records of training and awareness sessions. They conducted employee interviews to verify attendance.
The team also reviewed the organizational chart and job descriptions to confirm employee competence. They observed the company’s working environment (social, psychological, and physical conditions).
The audit team analyzed the evidence and prepared an audit report with findings and conclusions.
Based on the last paragraph of scenario 3, which audit principle did the audit team follow?
Which statement below indicates that an organization has developed its communication strategy by taking into account the principle of appropriateness?
Whistlekleen is a national dry cleaning and laundry organization with 50 shops. You are conducting a surveillance audit of the Head Office and are sampling customer complaints. You find that 80% of complaints originate from five shops in the same region. Most of these complaints relate to damage to customer laundry. The Quality Manager tells you that those are the oldest shops in the organization. The cleaning equipment needs replacing, but the organization cannot afford it now. Complaining customers are offered a financial incentive to close the complaint.
On raising the matter with senior management, you are told that there are plans to replace the equipment in these shops over the next five years.
Select the one option which correctly describes the non-conformity to be raised against ISO 9001.
In the context of a second-party audit, match the activity with the party responsible for conducting it.
You are conducting an ISO 9001 audit of a Materials Recycling Facility. The organisation processes
waste plastics into raw materials for plastic bottle manufacturers. You reach the manual picking line
where operators are removing contaminant materials from incoming products, such as plastic bags,
plastic film and badly contaminated items that would compromise the recycling process. You
interview the line supervisor.
You: " Why are these plastic items being rejected at this stage? "
Auditee: " They do not meet our processing standards. "
You: " What is the reason for that? "
Auditee: " These items are likely to damage the machinery down the line. They can also
compromise our quality standards. We need to protect our reputation for good quality output
materials. "
You: " What happens to the rejected items? "
Auditee: " Some get melted down in another process later on, and some are disposed of as waste
products that cannot be recycled. "
You: " What happens to the waste products? "
Auditee: " I ' m not sure. I suppose they go to landfill. "
After further auditing, you have gathered additional evidence. Match the following
statements to the correct ISO 9001 standard clause shown.
To complete the table, click on the blank section you want to complete so that it is
highlighted in red, and then click on the applicable text from the options below.
Alternatively, drag and drop each option to the appropriate blank section.
What type of audit evidence are policies and guidelines?
You are an auditor from a construction organisation who is conducting a second party audit to ISO 9001 at a steel rolling mill producing
structural steelwork. When auditing the rolling process, you find that the operator who is unloading the furnace does not use the
adjacent infrared pyrometer to measure the appropriate product temperature in readiness for the next production stage.
You: " How do you tell when the billet is ready for the rolling stage? "
Operator: " I ' ve done this job for 20 years. I can tell by the bright red colour. "
You: " What happens if the colour is wrong? "
Operator: " The billet goes back into the furnace. "
You: " Is the pyrometer ever used? "
Operator: " Only in borderline cases. "
You continue to interview the operator and find that around 25% of the billets are sent back to the furnace. This includes 80% of the borderline cases.
Select three options that would provide evidence of conformance with clause 9.1.1 of ISO 9001.
Select the two statements that are true.
What does an auditor evaluate during an audit follow-up?
Which two of the following statements related to Stage 1 of an initial certification audit against ISO 9001:2015 are true?
Which of the following is a record related to the audit program that should be managed and maintained?
Scenario 2:
Bell is a Canadian food manufacturing company that operates globally. Their main products include nuts, dried fruits, and confections. Bell has always prioritized product quality and has maintained a good reputation for many years. However, the company ' s production error rate increased significantly, leading to more customer complaints.
To increase efficiency and customer satisfaction, Bell implemented a Quality Management System (QMS) based on ISO 9001. The top management established a QMS implementation team comprising five middle managers from various departments, including Leslie, the quality manager.
Leslie was responsible for assigning responsibilities and authorities for QMS-related roles. He also suggested including a top management representative in the QMS team, but top management declined due to other priorities.
The team defined the QMS scope as:
" The scope of the QMS includes all activities related to food processing. "
Leslie established a quality policy and presented it to the team for review before top management approval. Top management also proposed a new strategy for handling customer complaints, requiring biweekly customer surveys to monitor customer perceptions.
Which of the following indicates that Bell has defined its quality objectives?
You are conducting an audit at a single-site organisation seeking certification to ISO 9001 for the first time. The organisation manufactures cosmetics for major retailers and the name of the retailer supplied appears on the product packaging. Sales turnover has increased significantly over the past five years.
You are interviewing the new Product Development Manager. You note that a software application called SWIFT is used to help control the product development process.
You have gathered audit evidence as outlined in the table. Match the ISO 9001 clause 8.3 extracts to the audit evidence.
ABC is a car washing company with 25 stations in the city. A national taxi chain (CAR XX) decided to audit ABC’s ISO 9001 management system.
You, as CAR XX audit team leader, are interviewing the ABC Quality Manager (QM) at their central office.
You: “How do you measure customer satisfaction?”
QM: “When we give the keys back to the owners, we always ask them two questions about their needs and expectations, and once per month, we discuss a summary of the answers to those questions and the complaints we receive in a box located in the waiting room.”
You: “Did you take any action based on these responses?”
QM: “We installed cameras to monitor the process and a coffee machine in the waiting room. These actions reduced the complaints by 90%.”
Based on the scenario, select which three statements are true:
During a second-party audit of a dairy farm (by a potential customer) complying with ISO 9001:2015, the auditor verifies that there is large variability in the daily production of the milking yard. The current agreement with their only customer is to provide 2,000 litres per day. However, in the last two years, they have noticed an increasing variability in daily production.
If they produce less than 2,000 litres, they are penalised with a fine of 1.5 pesos for every litre that they do not provide. If they produce more than 2,000 litres, they use the extra milk to feed the pigs.
This process has been in operation for decades. The dairy farm was founded by the grandfather of the current owners, who did not want to alter the established practices.
The auditor raises a nonconformity on the basis that the process is not under control (Clause 8.1).
If you had been the auditor, which one of the following actions would you have accepted?
You are carrying out an audit at a single-site organisation seeking certification to ISO 9001 for the first time. The
organisation manufactures cosmetics for major retailers and the name of the retailer supplied appears on the product
packaging. Sales turnover has increased significantly over the past five years. The organisation uses a software programme called SWIFT, which is used to record sales, plan production, purchase supplies, print despatch notes, track new product development, perform traceability exercises, carry out mass balance checks, raise invoices, create budgets, and support financial control.
You are nearing the end of the audit and you are reviewing your audit notes. You notice a recurring trend concerning the SWIFT database as shown below:
You ask the Quality Manager to explain how the SWIFT database is controlled. You learn that the Operations Director is
responsible for determining and progressing SWIFT software updates. You decide to meet the Operations Director (OD).
You: " Good afternoon. "
OD: " Good afternoon. "
You: " What responsibility do you have concerning the SWIFT database? "
OD: " I maintain it. If anyone wishes to propose an update to the database, they send me an email with
details of their proposal. I then either process the database update myself, or I send the request to the
consultant who designed the database 20 years ago. The necessary software changes are made, and the
amended software is immediately released to users. "
You: " Would you explain how the software amendments are controlled? "
OD: " Of course. I personally update every computer myself. "
You: " Do you inform the database users of the changes? "
OD: " No I don ' t. They find out for themselves by using the software, or they come to see me if they have
any questions. "
You: " How do you ensure that the database users use the latest version? "
OD: " That ' s easy, I update every computer myself. "
You: " During the audit, I noted there were several versions of SWIFT in use (you refer to your audit
notes). "
OD: " I know. That ' s because some versions work better than others, and depending on user needs and
experiences, we allow users to revert to using an earlier version if they find it works better for them. "
Based on the scenario, which two of the following statements are true? There is evidence of
nonconformity with a requirement defined in ...
