Audit findings: the 7-day and 3-month clocks
The dates the auditor guidelines set after a written notice of a non-conformity, and why a major left open for three months ends in suspension.
An auditor finding something is normal. What decides whether it costs you your registration is what happens in the weeks afterwards, and the dates are not yours to choose.
The clocks come from the NDIS (Approved Quality Auditors Scheme) Guidelines, Annex C. They start on the date of the auditor's written notice, not on the day you read it and not on the day the audit happened.
The 7-day clock: your corrective action plan
Within seven days of the written notice, you give the auditor a corrective action plan: what you'll change, how, and by when. Readyfile counts the day of the notice as day 1, so a notice dated on a Tuesday makes the plan due the following Monday. Seven days is short, and it is the one most often missed, because people wait until they have fixed the problem before replying. The plan is a plan, not proof the work is done.
The 3-month clock: majors
A major non-conformity has to be closed out, or downgraded to a minor, within three calendar months.
Major non‑conformities shall be downgraded or closed within three calendar months
Source: NDIS (Approved Quality Auditors Scheme) Guidelines 2018, Annex C, cl 4
Missing that deadline at a mid-term or a renewal audit is not a conversation. It suspends your registration automatically.
failure to downgrade or close a major non‑conformity within three calendar months shall result in automatic suspension
Source: NDIS (Approved Quality Auditors Scheme) Guidelines 2018, Annex C, cl 5
The NDIS Provider Register carries revocations for exactly this: a major left unfixed, then suspension, then revocation.
The 18-month clock: minors
A minor non-conformity has eighteen calendar months.
Minor non‑conformities shall be closed out within eighteen calendar months
Source: NDIS (Approved Quality Auditors Scheme) Guidelines 2018, Annex C, cl 6
In practice the real deadline is usually earlier, because a minor left open at your next audit becomes a major. So the date to work to is the earlier of eighteen months and your next audit.
A major that gets downgraded to a minor does not get a fresh eighteen months. It closes within twelve months of the original finding.
What this looks like as dates
Say the written notice is dated 20 October 2026, with one major and one minor, and your mid-term audit is booked for 14 March 2027:
- 26 October 2026 — corrective action plan due to the auditor (seven days, counting the day of the notice as day 1)
- 19 January 2027 — the major closed or downgraded (three calendar months, ending the day before 20 January 2027)
- 14 March 2027 — the minor closed, because your next audit comes before the eighteen months would
Where a rule can be read two ways, these are the earlier dates, which is how Readyfile shows every deadline.
Readyfile's dates calculator will work these out from your notice date, and the signed-in app tracks each one with the clause beside it.
Three things worth knowing
Your auditor decides whether a finding is closed, and Readyfile never does. We hold the dates and the evidence you attach; the judgement is the auditor's, or the Commission's.
Mid-term and renewal auditors look back. They check your plan against the earlier findings, so the records of what you did and when you did it are part of the next audit, not just the last one.
Nothing here promises an outcome. This page is general information from the published guidelines, not advice about your situation. If a date on your notice differs from what you read here, the notice wins: ask your auditor.