Qualiopi documents: the complete checklist for your audit

“Which documents do I need for Qualiopi?” It is the question every training provider in France asks before a first audit — and the official answer is disconcerting: the framework imposes no list at all. Yet the auditor very much expects concrete evidence, and the same families of documents come up in every audit. Here is the organised checklist, family by family, with the logic that ensures nothing is missed.

What the framework actually requires: evidence, not paperwork

The Référentiel National Qualité (France’s national quality framework) sets out 32 indicators grouped into 7 criteria, each describing an “expected level”. Nowhere does it say you need “internal rules in format X” or “a two-page watch procedure”. The reading guide published by the Ministry of Labour gives examples of evidence that are explicitly non-exhaustive and non-binding.

In practice, this means two things:

• The document is a medium, not an end in itself. A binder of immaculate procedures nobody applies is worth less than a real practice demonstrated by simple documents that are filled in, dated and mutually consistent.
• You have latitude on form. Two providers can prove the same indicator with different materials: what matters is that the evidence demonstrates the expected level.

This is why the checklists circulating online differ from one source to another: there is no word-for-word regulatory list. Audit experience does, however, allow a reliable working list, organised in three families.

Family 1 — Cross-cutting documents: your organisation’s foundation

These records do not depend on any particular session. They are requested almost systematically at the opening of a Qualiopi audit:

• Activity declaration receipt (NDA, your training provider registration number) and company registration extract;
• Latest Bilan Pédagogique et Financier (BPF), the annual activity report filed with the authorities, if you already have a year of activity;
• General terms of sale and quote template;
• Internal rules applicable to trainees;
• Public information materials: website, brochures, catalogues — showing prices, prerequisites, access lead times, disability accessibility and performance indicators. This is the core of indicator 1 on informing the public;
• Regulatory watch log covering legal, educational and disability topics, with traces of follow-through (circulation to the team, a document updated after a watch item);
• Trainer files: CVs, qualifications, contracts or subcontracting agreements, skills development plan;
• Complaints and incidents log, with the handling of each case;
• Continuous improvement tracker: feedback collection, analysis, corrective actions.

Family 2 — Evidence expected criterion by criterion

The table below maps the framework’s 7 criteria to the documents most commonly presented. Treat it as a control grid, not a mandated list.

Criterion	Focus	Typical documents and evidence
1	Informing the public	Website, catalogue, course sheets (prices, lead times, prerequisites, accessibility), results indicators
2	Objectives and adaptation	Detailed programmes, assessable objectives, positioning tests, needs analysis
3	Reception and monitoring	Joining instructions, welcome booklet, attendance sheets, learning progress tracking, evaluations
4	Teaching resources	List of resources and premises, course materials, e-learning platform, references
5	Trainer competence	CVs, qualifications, trainer development plan, reviews, professional watch
6	Professional environment	Legal and sector watch, partner network, disability referent, managed subcontracting
7	Continuous improvement	Satisfaction questionnaires, complaint handling, corrective action plan

Some indicators only apply to apprenticeship centres (CFA), VAE or skills assessments: do not produce evidence for indicators outside your scope. Conversely, the so-called “new entrant” indicators are audited on what you have prepared, even without any session history.

Family 3 — The documents of every training session

This is the most decisive family during the audit, because it proves your quality system works under real conditions. For each sampled session, the auditor expects a complete, consistent file:

1. Quote or commercial proposal, then a training agreement (convention, for professional clients) or individual training contract (for self-funding individuals);
2. Programme handed to the trainee;
3. Joining instructions and practical information sent before the training starts;
4. Positioning test or prerequisites check on entry;
5. Attendance sheets, or connection logs for remote delivery;
6. Evaluations: end-of-course satisfaction, learning outcomes, and later follow-up if you commit to one;
7. Completion certificate (certificat de réalisation) and, where applicable, an end-of-training attestation;
8. Invoice matching the quote and the agreement.

What the auditor checks first is the file’s internal consistency. A 14-hour programme, a 12-hour agreement and 10 hours of signed attendance form one of the most frequent Qualiopi non-conformities — far more common than a document being missing altogether.

Retention and filing: by indicator or by session?

Two filing logics coexist, and the right answer is to combine them:

• Filing by session (one folder per training action) matches your day-to-day operations and suits funder reviews, which reason file by file.
• Filing by indicator (one piece of evidence behind each indicator) makes the audit easier but quickly becomes artificial: the same agreement proves several indicators at once.

The proven approach: keep your files by session and by year, and prepare before the audit a cross-reference index stating, for each of the 32 indicators, where the evidence sits. Our Qualiopi audit preparation checklist includes a template for this index.

Retention periods vary with the nature of the records (proof of delivery, accounting records, publicly funded actions): the topic is covered in our guide on how long a training provider must keep its documents. As a practical minimum, keep a structured archive across the 3-year certification cycle, since the surveillance and renewal auditors will look back through your history.

A documentation effort that pays for itself

Faced with this list, it is tempting to see documentation as unproductive red tape. Academic research on certified quality systems suggests otherwise: a study by Corbett, Montes-Sancho and Kirsch published in 2005 in Management Science tracked US firms certified to ISO 9000 — a documented quality approach comparable in spirit — against similar non-certified firms over several years: the certified firms showed better financial performance, with the gap widening after certification. Formalising your practices is not just the entry ticket to French public funding: it makes the business itself more reliable.

Where to start without reinventing everything

If you are starting from a blank page, proceed in this order:

1. Map what exists: you already have agreements, programmes and evaluations — inventory them before creating anything new.
2. Fill the cross-cutting gaps (watch, complaints, continuous improvement), often the least intuitive for a young organisation.
3. Standardise the session file so every new training action mechanically generates its own evidence.
4. Test consistency on two or three real files, exactly as the auditor would.

To get going, our free Qualiopi document kit lists the essential first templates and how they fit together.

Take action

The Complete Kit Certif gathers every document expected across the 32 indicators — cross-cutting templates, procedures and a consistent session file — ready to customise (€297, 14-day guarantee, documents in French). Setting up your training business at the same time? The ebook Créer son organisme de formation en 30 jours (€67) structures every step, or choose the complete pack of kit + ebook for €347.