It is round this time of year (1st quarter) that a lot of the Certification Bodies will increase their ISO certification fees, the larger ones especially tend to increase their prices by 3-5% year-on-year even if they gave you a quotation for 3 years.
What you will notice is that around February time a letter is issued informing you of the new day rate imposed upon your organisation, and they will then follow this up with an invoice for your years assessment fees, even if your audit isn’t for another 9 months.
When organisations receive their quotations for ISO Certification for ISO9001, ISO14001 and ISO45001 the Certification Body will set out their fees for a 3 or 4 year cycle and that is the fee you believe you get charged. However, if you read the text within the quotation or terms and conditions they state that the fee will be reviewed annually and this is their get out and reasoning to increase your fees every year.
Auva have never believed in this policy and will always issue a firm fixed fee price, what you see is what you get and you will never pay anymore. Your organisation may change size and scope which may require additional, or sometimes less time which would subsequently impact your prices but if you stay within the original quotation boundaries then your fee will not change.
You may also notice that some of our competitors will add expenses to your audit fees, or some even add something in called an “annual management fee” or “certificate fee”. These are the hidden costs that we do not like to see and not something we impose, we may have to charge expenses if we are required to travel to certain areas but if this is the case then it is clearly identified within your quotation.
Many organisations also do not realise that you are free to transfer your certification to another Certification Body at any time, you are not tied into any contract and are free to move when you wish. The transfer process is free and very simple, and we always say that there is no harm in getting some prices to see how we compare to what you are currently paying.
Certification is not all about money, it is also about service and this is something we excel at. We have always been proud of our personal touch and high quality auditors, we believe you pay a fair price for a good audit. Look after the pennies and the pounds will look after themselves!
If you would like to find out more about the transfer process you can read our more in depth article here which sets out the process, it really is simple and many organisations transfer to Auva without any issues and have never looked back.
