Third-party Management Audit Checklist

Goal of third-party management

Third-party management aims to ensure that the third parties engaged by the organization as well as the services they provide, meet business requirements. In this way, the goal is to maximize the value obtained from these services.

Scope of third-party management

• Third-party and contract categorization
• Third-party selection 
• Development and agreement of contracts 
• Managing supplier relationships 
• Managing supply chain
• Monitoring and reporting compliance with contracts and, consequently, supplier performance
• Identifying, assessing, and managing risks, particularly those related to critical suppliers
• Reviewing, renewing, and/or terminating contracts
• Maintaining a service improvement plan with the third-party

Checklist content

The third-party management checklist helps to ensure compliance as well as identify areas for improvement and raise awareness. It covers domains such as people, organization, governance, processes and technology. It is designed as an Excel document and includes around 45 questions that can be marked as “applicable” or “not applicable” to help you plan and manage improvement actions. 

Please refer to our third-party management toolkit for further guidance.