What is Auditing?

Definition:
Auditing is an on-site verification activity, such as analysis or investigation to determine conformity to drafted policies. An audit requires a qualified, independent, and skilled professional to achieve audit purposes. Audits are done to confirm the accuracy of financial statements prepared by an organization or to identify non-compliance gaps to management systems policies. 

Description:
Auditing can be done internally by skilled employees or heads of a specific department or externally by a consulting firm or an independent auditor. The concept is to examine and verify the various books of accounts, documented management system procedures, and policies, or the physical inspection of inventory to ensure that every department follows a documented system of recording transactions without alteration or fraud. An audit can be done on a person, organization, system, project, or product.

 

Different Types of Audit

Audits can differ from business to business. For example, a construction company might perform an audit to examine how much it spent on a particular project. You or your employees may manage audits internally or you may have an external audit conducted by an external auditor. Audits help to ensure that your business is operating smoothly. Let us look at the different types of audits listed below:

First-Party Audit:
Internal audits or First-Party audits are generally conducted within an organization to compute its durability and instability related to its internal business objectives. It is performed by an auditor who is employed by the organization but they don’t have a vested interest in the result of the audits. There are many reasons you must have internal audits in your organization, some are as follows:

• • Introduce improvements
  • Observe effectiveness
  • Make sure your organization is in compliance with laws and regulations
  • Evaluate and authenticate the financial information
  • Check operation process

 

Second-Party Audit:
External audits or Second-Party audits are generally performed by a contracted organization on behalf of the customer or on suppliers at the request of the customer. This audit assures that the supplier is doing based on the contractual agreements. Second-party audits bear to be more formal than first-party audits and could impact the customer’s purchasing decisions.

Third-Party Audit:
The Third-Party audit is the certification audit, conducted by an audit organization independent of the customer-supplier relationship and untied of any conflict of interest. The outcome of these audits is certification, registration, an award, a fine, or a penalty issued by a third-party organization. When your organization is audited, external auditors generally give you an audit report and this report includes your financial records – whether they are correct, incorrect, or missing important information, etc.

Process Audit:
A process audit is an observation of results and their activities, resources, and actions taken to ensure they are being managed properly, and effectively. It examines the conformance to define needs such as time, accuracy, strain, responsiveness, and fundamental mixture.

Product Audit: This type of audit is an analysis of a specific product or service, such as hardware, processed material, or software to check whether it fits the requirements(i.e; customer satisfaction, specification, and presentation standards).

System Audit:
System audit is defined as an organized and self-sufficient examination to regulate whether the activities performed and related results adhere to the planned arrangements and whether these arrangements are executed effectively and are advisable to achieve objectives.

• • A quality management system audit assesses the existing quality management system to decide its conformance to company policies, contract engagement, and regulatory requirements.
  • Similarly, an environmental management system audit reviews an environmental management system, and a health and safety management system audit review a health and safety management system.

 

Compliance Audit:
A Compliance audit is a complete review of an organization’s conduct and operations mainly focusing on the organization’s compliance with internal rules, regulations, policies, decisions, and procedures. A compliance audit report will cover the flexibility of conformity preparations, policies, risk management, and user approach controls observed during the audit.

Follow-up Audit:
Follow-up audit is an audit that confirms that corrective actions have been performed as scheduled. The most corrective process cannot be executed at the time of the audit. The audit program manager may need a follow-up audit to check that corrections were made and corrective actions were taken. 

 

Become a CQI IRCA Certified Lead Auditor with 3FOLD Training

Becoming a lead auditor, or pursuing a lead auditor training, whether that is ISO 9001:2015 QMS, ISO 45001:2018 OHSMS, or ISO 14001:2015 EMS can fulfill countless purposes. It benefits you meet the requirement to be a certification auditor or your organization assigned requirement to become an internal auditor or supplier auditor. You will acquire the idea of what ISO certification auditors are searching for. After completing the Lead Auditor course, you can grow your skills in conducting an audit trail (closing meetings, recording a non-conformance, audit reporting, and follow-up, etc…)

Adding this credential to your CV can be great access for you to be noticed by your prospective employers and have a better possibility of finding opportunities in any organization. Since it is Approved by CQI IRCA, it is also recognized worldwide. Have any doubts, feel free to reach us through the enquiry form, whatsapp, or email. Don’t delay further, Enroll in our upcoming batch now. See you in class!