The Qualiopi reading guide: what it is for and how to use it to prepare your audit

Many training organisations prepare for Qualiopi by piling up templates found on forums or second-hand checklists — when the document that actually counts on audit day is public, free, and written precisely to be used by organisations themselves. The reading guide for the French National Quality Framework (Référentiel National Qualité, RNQ) is the cornerstone of any serious preparation: here is what it contains, where to find it, and above all how to use it before and during the audit.

What the reading guide is — and where to find it

The National Quality Framework, established by decree no. 2019-565 of 6 June 2019, consists of 7 criteria and 32 indicators written in a deliberately concise style. Too concise to audit against: what exactly does “providing accessible information to the public” mean? What level of detail is expected from a needs analysis?

That is the role of the reading guide, published by the French Ministry of Labour (Délégation générale à l’emploi et à la formation professionnelle, DGEFP): to specify, for each of the 32 indicators, what is concretely expected and how compliance can be demonstrated. The document can be downloaded free of charge from the Ministry of Labour website — no intermediary is needed to obtain it, and any offer claiming to sell you “the official guide” should raise a red flag.

One crucial point: the guide is updated regularly. The version in force is version 9 (V9), published in early 2024. Each new version may adjust the expected level or the obligations: working from an outdated version means preparing for an audit that no longer exists.

What it contains, indicator by indicator

For each indicator, the reading guide provides four types of information:

Section	What it tells you
Expected level	What the auditor must observe to conclude that you comply — the operational definition of the requirement
Examples of evidence	Illustrations of possible documents or records (examples, not a prescribed list)
Specific obligations	What applies additionally or differently in certain cases: new entrants, apprenticeship centres (CFA), VAE providers, skills assessment centres
Non-conformity classification	Whether a gap on this indicator is classified as major or minor — with a direct impact on the outcome of the audit

That last section is strategic: it tells you which indicators carry a gap that suspends the issuing of the certificate. We covered them in detail in our article on the “super-indicators” with major non-conformities — those are the ones to secure first.

The specific obligations deserve the same attention. An organisation going through its first audit with no track record falls under the “new entrant” regime, with adapted expectations on certain indicators — the details are in our guide for Qualiopi new entrants. Likewise, apprenticeship centres, VAE providers and skills assessment centres have specific requirements that only a careful reading of the guide lets you identify without error.

How to use it to prepare the audit: a step-by-step method

The reading guide is not a document to read once from cover to cover, but a working tool to cross-reference with your reality. The method that works:

1. Define your scope. First identify which indicators apply to you: the categories of actions being audited (training, apprenticeship, VAE, skills assessments), new-entrant status or not. This immediately rules out the non-applicable indicators — which you will still need to be able to justify as such.
2. For each applicable indicator, read the expected level — not just the heading. Rephrase the requirement in your own words; if you cannot, you do not yet know how to meet it.
3. Cross-reference with your real evidence. Against the expected level, list what you can show today, dated and locatable. The guide’s examples are there for inspiration, not as a shopping list: evidence drawn from your real activity always beats a generic template filled in for the occasion.
4. Rate the gap and plan the action. Compliant, partial, non-compliant, not applicable — then a named, dated, assigned action for each gap. This is exactly the mechanism detailed in our Qualiopi self-assessment method.
5. Prioritise according to the non-conformity classification. Deal first with gaps on indicators classified as major, then with the rest.

This work fits naturally into an audit preparation timeline: the guide provides the “what”, the timeline provides the “when”. And for an operational reading indicator by indicator — what the auditor looks at, the expected evidence, the common mistakes — our hub covering the 32 indicators is a useful companion to the official text.

Using it during the audit: your common reference with the auditor

The reading guide is not only useful beforehand. It is binding on the certification bodies: the auditor must assess each indicator against the expected level described in the guide, not against personal preferences or practices seen elsewhere.

In practice, if a finding seems to go beyond the requirement — a specific document being demanded when the guide describes an expected level you meet by other means — you can open the guide and discuss it calmly with the auditor, text in hand. This conversation should stay constructive: the point is not to challenge the auditor on principle, but to check together that the finding matches the reference text. Having the guide within reach (and having actually read it) changes your position: you are no longer on the receiving end of an interpretation, but in a dialogue on a shared basis. As our walkthrough of how a Qualiopi audit day unfolds shows, the best moments for that discussion are the review of the indicator concerned and the closing meeting, before the report is finalised.

Common mistakes with the reading guide

• Reading it as a list of documents to produce. The examples of evidence are illustrations; the requirement is the expected level. Mechanically manufacturing every document cited as an example produces an artificial binder that auditors spot quickly — and makes you overlook natural evidence already present in your activity.
• Ignoring the specific obligations. Reading only the general expectations and discovering during the audit that a requirement specific to CFAs, VAE, skills assessments or new entrants applied to you: one of the most avoidable sources of non-conformity.
• Working from an outdated version. A guide downloaded two years ago, templates inherited from a previous version: the requirements evolve with each version, and the auditor applies the version in force. Check the version (currently V9) before each preparation cycle.
• Skimming it once and forgetting it. The guide is useful before the audit, during the audit, and between audits — every annual review of your quality system benefits from starting again from the text rather than from memory.

Taking the framework seriously: an investment, not a chore

It is tempting to see this careful reading work as a bureaucratic exercise. Research suggests otherwise: genuinely engaging with a quality framework produces measurable effects beyond the certificate itself. A study by Charles J. Corbett, María J. Montes-Sancho and David A. Kirsch published in 2005 in Management Science, “The Financial Impact of ISO 9000 Certification in the United States: An Empirical Analysis”, shows that American firms that obtained ISO 9000 certification experienced a significant improvement in financial performance compared with non-certified firms. The parallel with Qualiopi is direct: the time spent confronting each indicator with your actual practices is not time lost on the audit — it is time invested in the strength of your organisation.

Take action

The reading guide tells you what is expected; you still need to produce the evidence. The Complete Kit Certif at €297 (14-day guarantee) provides, for each of the 32 indicators, a template procedure and an evidence table aligned with the expected level — turning your reading of the guide into an audit-ready file. Starting from scratch? The ebook “Create your training organisation in 30 days” at €67 lays the foundations, and the full pack at €347 combines both resources.