For some, audits are highly feared. However, they are essential for any company and should be viewed as a way to ensure that everything is functioning as it should.
While audits delve deeply into an organization’s practices and processes, they are highly beneficial and should be seen as an opportunity to make further improvements!
Audits can be conducted in two formats: internal or external. Additionally, their objectives can vary widely, such as verifying the regularity and efficiency of management, obtaining information about the financial situation, preventing fraud, improving operational legal security, and increasing the confidence of employees, suppliers, investors, partners, customers, and others.
Contrary to popular belief, audits can also be carried out when everything is running smoothly to ensure that the pre-established standards of long-term planning are being maintained.
To ensure this practice is not forgotten due to the proper functioning of processes and management itself, it is ideal to create a schedule of periodic audits, reinforcing employees’ daily commitment and maintaining the high standards set for smooth operations.
Incorporating audits into a company’s organizational culture is the most effective way to make them a regular practice and engage employees. It sends a clear message regarding the company’s objectives and the aspects to be analyzed.
Uses of Audits
Audits can be employed as tools for the continuous improvement of organizational processes, offering a detailed view of the optimizations that need to be made and the operations that can be refined to raise delivery standards.
Quality audits, for example, help ensure that the organization complies with applicable regulations and standards, such as ISO norms. Audits can also be conducted as a preparatory step for certification, aligning processes more effectively for the official certification audit.
Another relevant aspect to consider is the focus on deliverables and customer satisfaction. Audits identify and allow for the correction of errors, ensuring more consistent final deliverables and fostering a more reliable relationship between the brand and its customers.
Prepare for an Audit
The company must prepare not only to undergo the audit but also to conduct it, especially if it is the first time. After all, the process may reveal the need for changes and improvements.
Action plans can assist in organizing the steps that need to be carried out, aligning the company’s daily activities with the work required by the audit, and mapping out the areas, timelines, and personnel involved.
If there are doubts about selecting the participating areas, consider the purpose of the audit and the processes to be audited. This will make it much easier to identify which areas should be selected.
As you may have noticed, we are referring to processes tied to objectives. Therefore, process standardization is the first step, even before conducting the audit itself. Without aligned processes, it becomes impossible to identify where a process begins and ends, making the organization phase of the audit even more challenging.
Another crucial step is holding an alignment meeting to share more information with the team participating in the audit—both those conducting it and those being audited.
One tip for auditors is to collaboratively create a checklist of activities to ensure that all necessary items are covered in both the planning and execution phases.
Finally, once the audit is complete, the work isn’t over. A review and the preparation of the final report are essential, highlighting positive points and areas that require improvement.
Real Challenges
The first and most significant challenge is the lack of an aligned organizational culture, where all employees understand its importance and the relevance of daily activities to the audit’s outcome.
This misalignment directly impacts process control, which can hinder the integration within the Management System’s structure and the overall flow of information.
In turn, this affects the management and updating of necessary documentation, both regulatory and those used in daily operations.
Additionally, the lack of employee engagement leads to the discontinuity of action plans, which are created after the final audit report to address the identified non-conformities.
Interact Suite SA Optimizes the Audit Process
Throughout this article, we’ve observed that the audit process in a company requires a series of organizational efforts and prerequisites, both for conducting the audit itself and for maintaining the implemented improvements in daily activities.
To simplify all of this, it is essential to rely on software that can optimize processes and enhance controls, such as Interact Suite SA.
Among the available modules, the SA Audit Manager is specifically designed for audits, offering comprehensive solutions for audit management and fully aligned with the requirements of ISO 19011 for quality and environmental management systems.
With this tool, management becomes more secure, transparent, and competitive, adhering to market best practices.
Its key features include audit planning, checklists, workflows to monitor progress, execution schedules, automated reports, and the monitoring and control of non-conformities.
To further enhance usability, the module is available in a mobile version, allowing you to conduct audits offline, evaluate checklist items, add findings, and even receive notifications.
Visit our website to learn more!
