Examples of good internal audits: Have you ever asked yourself what could actually be tempting and attractive about an internal audit from the perspective of those involved in the audit? Do your audit partners in the company pay attention when the audit result contributes to the implementation of target agreements, making work easier, minimizing risks and personal success? Is there a world beyond conformity to rules? We show you where the journey could take internal audits.
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Rethinking begins, for example, with the question of how internal auditors announce your audit program. What options are there for you as an auditor to create positive expectations of the audit? An idea: Use good results and changes with an impact in processes from last year's internal audits as an opportunity to present the current audit planning and preparation for discussions with employees. Use your audit report as a business card – even to them top management!
You can never solve problems with the same mindset that created them.
Examples of internal audits: 3 tips on how things can be done differently...
We all know the traditional methods of taking samples or examples in audit. These are either statistical or decision-based sampling. What both classics have in common is that the samples taken are largely in the “green area”. But there are certainly other audit methods. Below you will find our 3 tips:
- TOP/FLOP: Forget the classic "random sampling" approach. Together with the auditees, look for an excellent example (TOP) and then (!) an example where everything really goes wrong (FLOP). Use the examples to identify opportunities and events/procedures that should be repeated or avoided.
- Auditing from the back to the front: We reverse the traditional approach of auditing company processes from "front to back." So not:
Top management ► QM system ► Sales ► Development ► Production ► Supporting processes ► Delivery. We still start with top management, but only for strategy and goals - and then we comence to audit the delivery or shipping department, auditing our way forward. We pay particularly attention to handover points and interfaces in the process. This gives us the advantage of working with a random sample that we know has been through the entire production process. We conclude the audit with the management system (quality management system) and the evaluation of the system by top management. The effect: You audit a concrete example that has actually gone through all the processes and gain better insight into the process interfaces. - Proxy audit: Why not focus an audit consistently on the "2nd row" in a company? Impact: Risk minimization, avoidance of audit routines (otherwise always the same interviewees), involvement of more employees, new perspectives, different insights.
- Other possibilities
There are, of course, many other methods of internal auditing that can be used and that are certainly being used in one organization or another. Other possibilities include self-assessments, mystery calls, quiz methods, flash audits, workshop methods and group audits, "shadowing" as an audit, fairy questions, scenarios and role playing.
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Audit Evolution 2024 - Internal auditing in a generational change
AuditEvolution on April 16, 2024: the congress for everyone who prepares and carries out internal audits. Our experienced DQS auditors pass on their knowledge when it comes to the classic "moments of truth", from management audits to customer processes , from unpopular or new topics in the audit to tips for your first internal audit - with or without AI.
Internal audits: ISO 19011 strong source of inspiration
A set of rules that should by no means be ignored in connection with internal audits is: DIN EN ISO 19011, the guide to auditing management systems in the revised version of 2018. With the revision, the standard has received some well-thought-out improvements. The result: certainly not a fundamentally new version, but a substantially further developed version.
Important: ISO 19011 can be used by everyone Management systems and whose processes are used - also in combination with various standards, starting with quality management ISO 9001 above ISO 14001 and ISO 27001or occupational safety management ISO 45001.
ISO 45001 – Internal Audits
We interpret the norm.
Internal audits are an indispensable element within management system standards and serve as a tool for effective self-assessment. They enable critical reflection on the effectiveness of implemented processes. You can read exactly what the SGA standard ISO 45001 requires in our free white paper .
Benefit now from the know-how of our experts.
Does ISO 19011 provide incentives to audit internally differently?
Absolutely: The focus of the regulations is, among other things, the strategic reference - and thus also the incentive to formulate clear audit goals in order to further increase the audit benefits.
Audits – internal and external – should generally be more than just compliance checks. Audits should be on continuous improvements be aligned and question best practices. In practice, this is by no means self-evident. The current guidelines can therefore be used as a source of inspiration for audit processes, methods and the required audit competence. And this also applies to external audits in connection with a Certification.
The basic message of the guide
If we as DQS If you were asked to summarize the basic message of the ISO 19011 guide in a few words, these guiding principles would probably emerge:
- Invest more time and thought into which processes and aspects of your management system you want to incorporate the available audit resources into. And: Which one you want to audit intensively – make a selective decision.
- Think about what goals you are pursuing with the internal audits (and that is more than just proving compliance!) and which audit methods can best support these selected goals.
- Depending on the processes and audit methods selected, use the most suitable people for this. Determine the skills your internal auditors need individually for your company.
- Continuously evaluate and improve your audit planning, audit execution and audit follow-up.
Integrated management systems – audited with added value
In addition to the assessment according to individual management system standards, the combined, simultaneous auditing of complete integrated management systems numerous opportunities. Through cross-topic auditing, synergies are used and at the same time interactions and contradictions between the different topic areas are identified.
Conducting internal audits in a different way – conclusion
The Guide to Auditing Management Systems ISO 19011 has become indispensable when it comes to internal audits. But how innovative and creative approaches can be used to audit “differently” and perhaps in a more stimulating, lively and goal-oriented way is up to us. There are certainly successful alternative audit methods, such as the TOP-FLOP approach, auditing from back to front or the proxy audit.
Try one of the above or a variation of the classic audit activities. Have your own experience with how much fun it can be to use different methods and how well you can combine different audit methods with different employees, managers and cultures in the company - or to put it with the big word of a shoe manufacturer: Just do it !
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Since its founding in 1985 as the first German certifier of management systems, DQS has been committed to the sustainable success of its customers. With value-adding audits and customer-oriented concepts, we support organizations through to business excellence.
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Matthias Vogel
Seit 2010 ist Matthias Vogel Pressesprecher der DQS GmbH und verantwortlich für die Fachpresse. Als Senior Content Manager ist er mitverantwortlich für die Themenfindung des DQS Blogs „DQS im Dialog“, für die Abstimmung mit Autor*innen und für die Textredaktion. Matthias Vogel ist Herausgeber des regelmäßig erscheinenden DQS–Newsletters „DQS Update“ und versorgt Sie so mit Informationen und Wissensangeboten rund um Audits und Zertifizierung. Außerdem ist er Programmleiter und Moderator der DQS-Kundentage und moderiert als Co-Moderator die virtuellen Konferenzen "Digital Quality Space".
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