Internal Audits

What is an internal Audit?

Internal audits are used to assess the effectiveness of the implementation of management systems. These could be for your financial, quality, health and safety, environmental, food safety and/or information security management systems.

They can be a very helpful way for you to refine your systems, especially if your auditors are trained to help you identify corrective actions and improvements. 

The scope of internal auditing within your organisation can be narrow or broad or short or long.  You get to decide the scope and what it should cover.  There are so many elements that can be covered, things like:

• Governance
• Risk management
• Management controls
• Hazards

The lists are almost endless. This article describes how to conduct an audit.

It is important to note that your internal auditors will not be responsible for ensuring your organisation's corrective actions are completed.  The auditor will advise the auditee on how they can improve their processes, then this will be delegated onto someone else. 

Benefits of Internal Audits

1. Helps to satisfy your customers that the management systems meet standards
2. They help to compare actual practice with a set of accepted standards of good practice
3. Able to measure your processes and practices against ideal processes and make corrections where needed
4. Allows you to assess progress toward your goals
5. Your internal audit findings should indicate whether you are ready for an external audit.

Related Questions: 

• How do you conduct an internal audit? 
• Who should conduct an internal audit?