You are the audit team leader on a two-day surveillance audit of an organisation based...

Conducting the interview virtually is the most appropriate response because it preserves the planned audit activity, enables the General Manager to provide the required evidence and avoids unnecessary disruption to the surveillance audit. Remote audit methods are legitimate when the required information can be accessed effectively and confidentiality, connectivity and other audit risks are appropriately managed. Replacing the General Manager with other managers could prevent the auditor from obtaining evidence specifically associated with that person ' s leadership responsibilities. Delaying only that interview until the following week would leave the current audit incomplete, while postponing the entire audit is disproportionate when a practical remote method is available. ISO guidance expressly recognizes physical and virtual audit locations, and ISO/IEC TS 17012 provides dedicated guidance for remote methods in first-, second- and third-party management-system audits.