Take the Fear Out of Audits

Complying with a quality management standard can yield improvements for a company. But before a business can get certified, they have to get audited. And this is a word that tends to scare people. But auditors say that manufacturers can prepare for audits in a way that helps all involved parties. But what should companies do to prepare?

Prep Work
The common audit advice is to plan ahead for an audit so employees know what to expect, especially for those who have never gone through an audit before. It helps people know where records are located and what questions they are likely to be asked. After all, it is a stranger coming into your facility, and not everyone has same level of comfort with stranger asking them, questions.

And, though it may seem like common sense, remind everyone that honesty is important. Don’t try to hide things from the auditor. One, they will probably figure things out on their own, and two, the idea is to help the business improve. If you simply set up a façade of quality processes, it won’t help anyone.

But, too much preparation isn’t good either. Sometimes the most nervous people during an audit are those that have recently had extensive preparation meetings. Furthermore, companies should be following their quality management system so they shouldn’t need to have a mad dash in the weeks before an audit. Ideally, the audit should just be a regular day at the company.

While surprise audits might sound about as fun as a surprise root canal, it helps keep the company on track without the disruption of audit prep. Since they had so many different standards in place, it made the most sense just to treat the audit as nothing out of the ordinary.

Other experts echo this idea. “In an ideal world, there should be no preparation. The system that an organization has should be able to be used on a daily basis. Like college, if we study for the quarter or semester, there’s no marathon studying before the finals.

If companies have automated systems, this can be easier. While some companies are able to work with Microsoft products like Word and Excel, it can be difficult to track data as the company grows.

As the business needs become more complicated, many companies transition to an automated system, which can help smooth out the business processes.

Internal Audits
Preparation differs for internal and external audits. Internal audits can be thought of as preparation for the external audit, a higher-stakes event with outsiders coming to evaluate your business processes. But they shouldn’t just be thought of as a dress rehearsal for the “real” audit. Internal audits can be a great way to help improve a company’s processes, with everyone on the same side working together.

Internal audits, if well conducted, could be one of the best tools to drive improvements in an organization. Internal auditing is a big wasted tool in the industry. Companies do these internal audits just to satisfy the requirements… It should be something top management demands to see business benefits from, and demands to see opportunity for improvement for each and every audit. It’s a very small group that gains benefits.

So how to be part of the small group that gets them right? The first step is to select the internal auditor. The most important thing for anybody to be a good auditor, internal or external, is communication. Communication skills are paramount. If you cannot communicate with the people you have to interface with, you will be a lousy auditor.

In addition to communication skills, the internal auditor should be someone who is able to actually look critically at the organization, rather than simply take it easy on their colleagues. Though this may seem like a nice thing to do, it won’t help the organization improve. And it won’t be of help when the external auditor discovers these issues. So examine the business processes and see how they could potentially be improved.

Finally, it is important to follow through. If the internal audit raises questions about corrective action issues, be sure to correct these issues. Internal audits can provide value, if done correctly. Τhey are really the most powerful tool management can use to effectively address the company’s issues. Internal audits are the eyes and ears, and tell them what’s going on.

Internal auditors should focus on the higher impact areas of the business: “Very few companies pay attention to that. They basically just audit the same departments to the same schedule. They might be overkilling some departments that are very stable or less critical in terms of customer satisfaction. They have however to understand business processes and how those business processes affect quality.

Misconceptions
Most people don’t think of audits of a conversation, but that’s ideally what they should be. The parties involved should listen to each other, and plan to get results. It is not an inquisition.

So don’t be afraid of audits—but do take them seriously. Some will go from fear to ‘Oh, this is no big deal, this doesn’t matter,’ but that’s not much better. There is not much benefit if they think it’s no big deal.

So, while it is important to have documents in place, these are not the only things to consider. The records are really the end of the audit trail. It’s not just a documentation audit. It’s people running the process

Moving Forward
So you’ve prepared for an audit and done the internal audit. Your work is actually just starting. The most important thing is what happens after the internal audit. The key is to be sure you are working your way through the nonconformities, and have enough time to make sure internal audit corrections before the real audit starts. Internal audits are useless if you don’t follow through.

Reference: Quality Magazine