5 Tips on Performing Internal Audit Services Efficiently

Many entrepreneurs consider the required process for the internal audit as an evil from which no one can escape. Businesses need to endure this painstaking process of internal assessment to maintain the registration of their ISO certification. What’s most striking is the fact that most of the businesses believe that it’s only a duplicate effort of the registrar. These entrepreneurs do not realize that internal audit is not a mere audit, it is more than that. It examines the process more minutely than the registrar could ever do. If you run a business, you must appreciate the efforts of an internal auditor as he/she protects your organization against outright misleading with false information.

Internal audit is the best way of having a critical look at the process that can help you identify the gaps or loopholes exited in your business management system. It can help you streamline the process so that you can operate it better, faster, and more effectively. You can assign your internal resources for performing the internal audit or outsource internal audit services. Whatever be your choice, you can try five tips to maximize the efficiency of your audit. Let’s check out the tips.

1. Plan the Audit Schedule in Advance

Do you know what an integral part of the global business process is? Well, the answer is simple. An audit schedule is all you need. Whenever the schedule is ready, let your employees know when each process will take place. If you want to perform the audit without any prior notification, it will convey a negative message to the employees. They will think that the senior management doesn’t trust them.

Moreover, an internal audit cannot be completed without interviewing the employees. It is important to record how they are associated with the processes and how they operate the processes. Therefore, the audit should take place in the presence of every employee. When you have a fixed schedule, you will be able to ask your employees to follow-up the schedule and attend the audit.

2. Draft an Effective Process Audit Plan

When you are outsourcing resources for internal audit, you must confirm when the audit will take place. Once confirmation is given, you need to draft an effective plan for auditing each of the processes. We all know that a business may have multiple running business processes. Therefore, it is important to regularly monitor whether the processes are running properly and or not. Your audit plan must have a unique strategy for each process as each process may contain a different approach and functions. Moreover, it is important to plan a readiness review to determine whether your processes are ready to be audited by an independent certification body or not.

3. Perform the Audit in the Best Possible Way

It would be a good idea to start the audit with a meeting of the auditors and the top management. What should you discuss in this meeting? You should discuss the audit plan. The auditors may have multiple revenues to collect information during the audit, such as- record assessment, interviewing the employees, key process data analysis, etc.

4. Report the Audit

Once the internal audit services are done with their assessment, they must provide you with a thorough report. Every business owner should know about the loopholes existing in their system so that they can be eliminated as soon as possible.

5. Work on the Findings and Follow up the Improvement Process

Though this last step is not a direct part of the internal audit process, it is important to make the audit advantageous. You have conducted the internal audit in the hope of finding the flaws so that you can eliminate them from your systems before appearing for the final audit. Therefore, you must work on the findings reported the auditors and follow-up the processes to improve the highlighted areas.

Follow these five tips and maximize the efficiency of your internal audit!