Unlike assessment, an audit does not evaluate quality: it focuses on the processes that are believed to produce quality and the methods by which academics assure themselves that quality has been attained.
Unlike accreditation, it does not determine whether an institution or a programme meets threshold quality criteria and, therefore, certifies to the public the existence of minimum educational standards.
Audits do not address academic standards, or determine the quality of teaching and learning outcomes, but evaluate how an institution satisfies itself that its chosen standards are being achieved.