QMS, CAPA & Quality System Management worked example

Supplier Audit Cost at 50% share requiring on-site audit: a worked example in qms, capa & quality system management

Here is what the math looks like when conditions slip. We hold every other input steady and drop share requiring on-site audit to 50%, then walk the calculation through step by step. Estimates the cost of a supplier audit program by combining per-supplier audit effort with fixed program administration.

The inputs for this scenario

  • Suppliers audited this year: 30 suppliers (held at the documented default)
  • Fully loaded audit cost per supplier: 1,800 $/supplier (held at the documented default)
  • Share requiring on-site (not remote) audit: 50 % (the input this scenario stresses; the baseline uses 70)
  • Fixed audit program administration cost: 6,000 $ (held at the documented default)

Working through the calculation

  • The calculation starts from the formula this tool documents: Total supplier audit cost = suppliers x audit cost x on-site share + program administration.
  • Total supplier audit cost works out to 33,000 $ at these inputs, and this is the headline figure for the scenario.
  • Supplier audit cost per unit works out to 1,100 $ / piece at these inputs.
  • Variable supplier audit cost works out to 27,000 $ at these inputs.
  • Fixed supplier audit cost adder works out to 6,000 $ at these inputs.

How this compares with the baseline

  • Against the tool's baseline example, where share requiring on-site audit sits at 70% and the headline result is 43,800 $, this scenario comes in 24.66% below the baseline at 33,000 $.
  • The practical read: the gap between this scenario and the baseline is entirely attributable to share requiring on-site audit, so recovering it is worth quantifying in dollars before considering equipment or staffing changes. The on-site share acts as a single scaling factor on per-audit cost; if remote audits cost meaningfully more than a flat fraction of an on-site visit, adjust the per-supplier cost input to reflect your blended reality.

Results at a glance

  • Total supplier audit cost: 33,000 $ (headline result)
  • Supplier audit cost per unit: 1,100 $ / piece
  • Variable supplier audit cost: 27,000 $
  • Fixed supplier audit cost adder: 6,000 $

Run it with your numbers

  • To rerun this with your own numbers, open the live Supplier Audit Cost calculator, set share requiring on-site audit to your actual value, and adjust the remaining inputs to match your operation.

Last reviewed 2026-05-12.