Which two of the following phrases would apply to "audit criteria"?

Audit criteria are the set of policies, procedures, or requirements used as a reference against which objective evidence is compared during an audit. According to ISO 19011:2018, these criteria can include applicable policies, procedures, standards, legal requirements, management system requirements, contractual requirements, or codes of conduct. Therefore, the organization's own Management policy (specifically the environmental policy in this context) and the ISO 14001 requirements are fundamental components of the audit criteria for an environmental management system (EMS) audit. The auditor evaluates whether the organization's practices conform to both the international standard and its own stated commitments.

B. Financial objectives: These are generally outside the scope of an ISO 14001 audit unless they are explicitly linked to an environmental objective defined within the EMS.
C. Nonconformity report: This is an output or result of the audit process, documenting where evidence shows a failure to meet the audit criteria. It is not a criterion itself.
D. Audit conclusions: These are the final outcomes of the audit, determined by the audit team after evaluating the audit findings against the audit objectives.
E. Auditor competence: This is a necessary attribute of the audit team and a requirement for conducting the audit, not a criterion against which the auditee's system is measured.

1. International Organization for Standardization. (2018). ISO 19011:2018 Guidelines for auditing management systems. Clause 3.7, "Terms and definitions," defines audit criteria as the "set of policies, procedures or requirements used as a reference against which objective evidence is compared."

2. International Organization for Standardization. (2015). ISO 14001:2015 Environmental management systems — Requirements with guidance for use. Clause 5.2, "Environmental policy," requires top management to establish an environmental policy that is used as a framework for setting objectives. This policy becomes a key audit criterion. The standard as a whole constitutes the primary set of requirements.

3. Sârbu, R., & Bârsan-Pipu, N. (2018). The Role of Internal Audit in the Environmental Management System. Ovidius University Annals, Economic Sciences Series, XVIII(1), 538-542. This paper discusses how internal audits verify conformity with planned arrangements, including the requirements of the ISO 14001 standard and the organization's own established EMS requirements (such as its policy).

4. University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. (n.d.). ENVR 675: Environmental Management and Policy Course Syllabus. Gillings School of Global Public Health. Course materials typically describe environmental audits as a systematic process of evaluating an organization's performance against a set of criteria, which explicitly include regulations, standards like ISO 14001, and corporate policies.