What should be definition of "Audit Client"

In a third party certification/registration scenario, the audit request is made by the company/organization seeking certification/registration to audit on itself.

We must remember that “in third party certification/registration” the certificate is provided for “customer of the organization or the society” to have confidence / trust in the organization/company seeking certification.

So, the “customer of the organization or the society” is the ultimate customer.

This basic principle or concept is forgotten by the certification bodies and they treat “company/organization seeking certification/registration” as “client” as well as “auditee”

(If fee is paid by the auditee does not mean it is “client”)

In my opinion certification bodies should treat “customer of the organization or the society”  as “audit client” and hence they should disclose audit reports to “customer of the organization or the society”  (in reference to confidentiality clause)

Another problem with third party certification is “concept of customer satisfaction”.  Because they are treating “company/organization seeking certification/registration” as “audit client” or customer, they work for their satisfaction and certify each and every organization who approaches them for certification.

Treating “customer of the organization or the society”  as “audit client” will solve this menace also.

The concept of “audit client” and “auditee” is very clear in “supplier audits” by independent bodies.

The company who asks for audit of its supplier is “audit client”, supplier of the organization where audit is done is “auditee”.

The problem lies in the definition of “audit client”

The definition of audit client should be modified or amended to suggest that for third party certification/registration “customer of the organization or the society” is audit client.