More Sudoku than “Spot the Difference” Our internal audits look for patterns and causes, not just gaps. Providing the assurance you need to meet the standard and practical actions to make your system stronger.
Internal audit is a checking and review function that is aimed at providing assurance that your processes are implemented. A good internal audit can also identify organisational improvement opportunities. The internal audit should be more than just an inspection. One way of explaining this is as follows, consider two types of puzzles:
An inspection is more like spot the difference, while the audit is more like the Suduko.
The internal audit should be focussed on the ‘what’ and the ‘why’ of your processes and systems, where the inspection just looks at what is there.
All the ISO management systems standards require organisations to undertake internal audit. The great news here is that they all have very similar requirements. There are 2 key principles in developing your ISO compliant audits, clause 9.2 states that the audit process needs to provide information to confirm:
1. That your internal processes are being followed
2. That your management system meets the requirements of the standard(s)
This means you need to decide which internal processes are to be audited, and you also need to make sure you are following the requirements of your ISO standard(s)
To ensure that your audit meets ISO standard requirements, clause 9.2.2 stipulates that your audit needs to have the following 5 key attributes:
1. There needs to be a plan or a schedule.
2. There needs to be a scope and an audit criteria
3. The audit needs to be conducted by a suitably qualified person.
4. The findings need to be reported.
5. Any findings you discover need to be closed out.
