QUALITY TREND – OUTSOURCING INTERNAL AUDITS

The past few years have spawned seismic shifts in how businesses operate.  The shift to virtual and working from home to hybrid workforces and everything in between revealed opportunities as well as snags to how we used to operate traditionally. 

The pandemic created a crisis, and everyone has had to get really creative to avoid stoppage of operations due to staffing shortages, shifting workforce preferences, supply chain issues, logistical hurdles, etc.  And this means that everyone is doing more with less, and prioritizing work is more important than ever.

Everyone understands the importance of internal audits – even if only for the sake of continued compliance to ISO9001, ISO14001, ISO45001, IATF16949, AS9100, etc.  But, let’s face it, when push comes to shove, internal audits can be pushed aside in favor of real-time critical operations. 

When companies began to realize they needed to catch up on their internal audits, 2022 showed a big trend toward partnering with outside help.

Maintaining a robust internal audit program can be especially challenging, even on the best of days.  And it requires a huge ongoing investment in terms of training as well as completing the audits.  Many companies find themselves disappointed with the results and doubting the value of it all.

Further, it is an extremely common theme for companies to find themselves in the cycle trap of “train internal auditor – lose internal auditor – train next internal auditor – repeat”.  Training can be really expensive.  And auditors often don’t get enough practice to really hone their skills before they are either reassigned, taken off the audit team in lieu of other priorities, or leave the company to pursue opportunities.  And the cycle must then repeat.  This unstable environment makes for a lot of difficulty in maintaining a good audit program.

• It’s hard to stick to a schedule,
• Audits are often inconsistent due to inconsistent experience levels,
• Objectivity is difficult to maintain due to lack of available auditors, conflict of interest, etc
• A burden of learning and quickly demonstrating proficiency in:
  • The standard(s) the new auditors are expected to audit to
  • The areas they are auditing (familiarizing themselves with new processes)
  • Auditing best practices
  • Writing clear and concise audit reports so that management can take action
• The value proposition is lost – too much investment for too little return

Even IF a company is willing to make the investment, it is also difficult to maintain engagement and commitment to the value of an internal audit program.

Common reasons people tend to avoid internal audits:

• Being audited can invoke fear of judgment (or discovery) where issues exist,
• The audit process can be undervalued:
• Auditors don’t prioritize scheduling their audits (they see it as a nuisance)
• Auditees don’t prioritize participating (they see it as a nuisance)
• Management may ignore the internal audit process resulting in lack of interest (or conversely….)
• Management may improperly tie incentives/punishments to audit results
• Internal auditors don't have confidence that they really know what they're doing.  Your auditors may have been trained on internal auditing, but they don't feel confident they understand the requirements clearly.  And no one likes to tackle a task without confidence. 
• Auditors may not have the critical soft skills to be collaborative or cooperative, which can be of great value in the audit process.
• Audit results are not effectively acknowledged and utilized to make adjustments to improve the business.

So, companies are rethinking their strategy and trying a new approach.  They’re hiring experts to help them get more out of their internal audit program to get a better result.

A second-party partner can provide real value, real fast!

Experienced help from an outside source can alleviate a lot of burden on your quality system, and provide actionable insight into the gaps and strengths of your business.  We’re seeing a shift in interest from our traditional internal auditor training services to a leaner approach of direct internal auditing services requested by many of our clients. 

For those who have already transitioned to direct internal auditing services, they are saying the quality of the audits and the information they’re getting has improved dramatically.  Their audits are more stable and meeting their schedules.  And they are now able to focus on the results of their audits in management review to drive improvement. 

An outside partner can provide:

• Lower investment in training with greater return in value
• Greater objectivity – there are no interpersonal relationships, departmental competition, competing objectives, biases, sacred cows, etc
• Greater understanding of the requirements of the standards such as ISO9001, etc
• Broader understanding of processes and best practices across industries
• Greater reliability of completing the audits on schedule
• Clearer audit results with laser focused highlights of what’s working and what isn’t so you can spend your time improving your processes
• A sustainable and robust internal audit program that is compliant, but ALSO value added!

Contact us today, and let us help you get better results from your internal audit program.  Set yourself up for success in 2023, and let’s get those audits done!