# Supplier Audit Checklist for Small Companies Source: https://nerix.ai/blog/supplier-audits-for-small-companies How to decide which suppliers to check, what to ask, and how to run a light supplier audit by questionnaire or visit, then follow up kindly. The nerix team Published October 21, 2026 5 min read The Plan view in nerix Checks, with supplier checks and a business review scheduled for coming months. In this guide ## Key takeaways - List your suppliers and rank them by risk. - Check the high ones on what matters most for the work, using evidence. - Record fair results, agree on actions with dates and review on a rhythm. Every business depends on others. A bakery depends on its flour supplier, an agency on its hosting provider, a shop on a courier. When one of them fails, your customer does not blame the supplier: they blame you. So it is sensible to know how your key suppliers work before something goes wrong. A supplier audit is simply a structured look at how a supplier does what they promise. For a small company it can be light, quick and friendly. The aim is trust with evidence, not suspicion. ## Start with a list and a ranking Write down everyone you buy from. For each, note what you buy, how much you spend and what happens to your customers if they fail. Then rank them by risk: - **High:** you cannot easily replace them, or their failure stops your work or harms a customer. Examples: your main manufacturer, your software host, the person who handles customer payments or data. - **Medium:** their failure hurts, but you can work around it in a few days. - **Low:** you can switch with little effort. Spend your effort on the high group first. For the low group, a quick look at reviews and an invoice check is plenty. ## Decide what matters for each The questions depend on what they supply. Some themes appear often: - **Delivery.** Do they deliver the right thing, on time? Do they tell you early when they cannot? - **Quality.** How do they check their work? What happens when something is wrong? - **Capacity and continuity.** What if their key person is ill, or their site is out of use? Do they have a backup? - **Legal and safety.** Are they allowed to do what they do? Do they hold the licences, insurance or certificates the work needs? - **Information and data.** Do they handle your or your customers' data? How is it protected, where is it kept and who can see it? - **People and ethics.** Do they treat their workers fairly and follow the law? This matters more in some trades. Pick the three or four that matter most for each high risk supplier. ## Choose the method You have three levels of effort. **A questionnaire.** Send a short list of questions and ask for evidence with the answers: a certificate, a policy, a sample record. Ten questions are enough. It is quick for both sides and gives you something to file. **A call or video visit.** Ask them to show how they do the work. "Can you show me how an order moves from receipt to dispatch?" Watching reveals more than reading. **A site visit.** For suppliers whose failure would be serious. Tell them in advance what you want to see and who you want to meet. Bring a short checklist and take notes. In each case, keep the tone collaborative. Most suppliers welcome a customer who cares about quality. ## Ask questions that need evidence "Do you have a quality process?" gets a yes. "Please send your procedure for handling a faulty batch, and one example from the last year" gets the truth. For each answer, ask what proves it. You can use a recognised certificate such as ISO 9001 or ISO 27001 as one piece of evidence. Check that it is current, covers the work you buy, and was issued by a real body. A certificate does not replace your own look at the things you rely on. ## Record and judge For each question, record the result: meets what you need, partly meets it, does not meet it, or does not apply. Write what you saw or received. Then give the supplier an overall view: approved, approved with conditions, or not approved. Be fair and consistent. Judge each supplier against the same standard for their risk level. Try it on your own work. nerix writes the first draft, answers from your documents with the page each sentence came from, and keeps the team's work in one place. Start on the free plan. Start free ## Agree on actions together If you find gaps, share them quickly and plainly, with the evidence, and agree on actions with an owner and a date: they send a missing certificate, they add a check, they confirm a backup arrangement. Follow up on the dates. A serious gap in a high risk supplier may mean a plan to change supplier, so start looking before you must. Put your expectations in writing where they matter. A [service level agreement](https://nerix.ai/templates/service-level-agreement) states what is measured and what happens when targets are missed, and a [purchase order](https://nerix.ai/templates/purchase-order) fixes what you are buying and when. If you are choosing between several suppliers, a [request for quote email](https://nerix.ai/templates/request-for-quote-email) asks them all for the same information. ## Review on a rhythm Suppliers change. Set a review date for each: every year for high risk, every two or three years for medium. Also review after any serious problem, a change of ownership, a move or a change in what they supply for you. Keep the last questionnaire and notes so you can see what has changed. ## Do not forget the soft signals Between audits, listen. Late answers, staff turnover, delivery changes without notice, requests for early payment and vague replies can all be signs of trouble. Note them and ask. ## Where nerix helps [Checks](https://nerix.ai/product/audits) (early access) includes a supplier check among its eight ready plans. The plan can open the check on its own a few days before it is due, with its questions filled in. Each question has the evidence asked for, you choose a result and write what you saw, and an issue becomes a task in [Work](https://nerix.ai/product/work) with an owner and a due date. Keep the supplier's certificates and policies in your [library](https://nerix.ai/product/library), where you can search them and ask nerix questions with the page each answer came from. For instance, "When does this certificate expire?" nerix can mistake or miss a detail, so open the cited page before you rely on it. ## The short version List your suppliers and rank them by risk. Check the high ones on what matters most for the work, using evidence. Record fair results, agree on actions with dates and review on a rhythm. ## Questions people ask Do small companies need to audit suppliers? You need to know that the ones you depend on can deliver what you promise your customers. A light check, proportionate to the risk, is enough for most. Some customers and standards also require it. Do I need to visit the supplier? Not always. A questionnaire with evidence can be enough for low risk suppliers. A visit, or a video call where they show you the work, makes sense for suppliers whose failure would hurt you badly. n/ About the author The nerix team The nerix team writes these guides in plain words for small teams, with templates you can fill in and use today. 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Fill it in - ### [Service level agreement (SLA)](https://nerix.ai/templates/service-level-agreement) Set the service you promise, how fast you respond and what happens when you fall short. Fill it in ## In nerix - [Checks](https://nerix.ai/product/audits) - [Tasks and projects](https://nerix.ai/product/work) - [Library and search](https://nerix.ai/product/library) ## Try it on your own work. nerix writes the first draft, answers from your documents with the page each sentence came from, and keeps the team's work in one place. Start on the free plan. Start free See the plans ## Keep reading - Quality and audits training [Quality and audits](https://nerix.ai/blog/category/quality-and-audits) November 1, 2026 6 min read ### [Staff training records, what to keep and how](https://nerix.ai/blog/staff-training-records-what-to-keep) Staff training records explained: what to write down, how to track certificates that expire, and how to show an auditor who was trained and when. Read the guide - Quality and audits risk [Quality and audits](https://nerix.ai/blog/category/quality-and-audits) October 31, 2026 7 min read ### [How to run a risk register in a small company](https://nerix.ai/blog/how-to-run-a-risk-register) A risk register in plain steps for a small company: what to list, how to score likelihood and impact, who owns each risk and how often to review it. Read the guide - [Quality and audits](https://nerix.ai/blog/category/quality-and-audits) October 21, 2026 5 min read ### [Your first internal audit, step by step](https://nerix.ai/blog/quality-first-internal-audit-step-by-step) How a small business can plan, run and close its first internal audit: scope, questions, evidence, findings, corrective actions and what to do afterwards. Read the guide - [suppliers](https://nerix.ai/blog/tag/suppliers) - [audits](https://nerix.ai/blog/tag/audits) - [risk](https://nerix.ai/blog/tag/risk)