The IAF won’t actually enforce its multilateral agreement or ensure its member accreditation bodies comply with ISO 17011, despite that being their actual job and what they are legally required — under international laws — to do, but they will allow people to take expensive trips and write it off as a business expense.
Meet Cynthia Woodley, a former Vice-Chair at ANSI and perennial ISO “convenor” who enjoys attending ISO and IAF conferences,. Over at LinkedIn, Woodley posted the quiet part out loud, because these folks lack both self-awareness and shame. She admitted that, “for over 10 years now, a group of us attending the International Accreditation Forum Inc have been going out to a Michelin Star restaurant one evening to enjoy friendship and great food.” Have a look before she deletes it:
That post was bookended by others wherein Woodley referenced the IAF meeting in Bangkok. Sure enough, the restaurant she visited is the Michelin star joint Chef’s Table by Lebua in Bangkok, where a bottle of Pouilly-Fumé can run around $600 and two peppers and a leaf cost over $50.
In her post, she name-checks prior IAF higher-ups like Randy Daugherty and Sean MacCurtain (formerly of CASCO, which writes the ISO 17011 standard that everyone ignores.)
It’s pretty goddamned shameless that a tax-exempt organization like IAF has to waste money on trips like this to begin with, especially since it has no intention of doing anything to enforce the rules it claims to develop. Instead, the IAF helps accreditation bodies violate both ISO 17011 and international laws, going so far as to block complaints alleging tax fraud, theft of service, and even hiring hookers to ensure your AB auditor goes easy on you. These are all acceptable under the IAF, and the members– like Woodley — look the other way since they are being handed opportunities to visit Michelin star restaurants and claim it as a “business expense” afterward.
It’s all a tax scam, but it’s an internationally recognized tax scam, so I guess it’s okay.
Now, to be clear, I haven’t looked at Woodley’s books. It’s entirely possible she and the others paid for this out of their own pockets and did claim it on their taxes. It’s also possible that a meteor will hit the moon and leave a crater that looks just like Leonardo DiCaprio.
But in the end, the IAF itself pays no taxes. Nor does ISO nor does CASCO nor does ANSI. Instead, we — the actual taxpayers — pay their taxes for them. When they use any government service, it’s our money they are using, not theirs. In return, they get to host meetings all over the world and pretend to be working.
They are not. The IAF is a fraud, and this post just proves how little they care if you know it. Sure, they could actually do their job and throw out the corrupt ABs in their ranks, and stop the deadly spread of defective products, falsified test results, environmental disasters, and more… but they’d rather sit around and drink $600 Pouilly-Fumé while we foot the bill.
Christopher Paris is the founder and VP Operations of Oxebridge. He has over 35 years’ experience implementing ISO 9001 and AS9100 systems, and helps establish certification and accreditation bodies with the ISO 17000 series. He is a vocal advocate for the development and use of standards from the point of view of actual users. He is the writer and artist of THE AUDITOR comic strip, and is currently writing the DR. CUBA pulp novel series. Visit www.drcuba.world
