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Who owns the internal ISO audit?

By Ed Bones

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Published: 31Jan2009
Word count: 590
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What a strange question you might respond, but is it? Assuming we are considering a typical organisation, where audits are scheduled, conducted and reported in a more or less structured manner, probably because of a mandatory requirement to conduct the audit, the question becomes more valid as we examine audit operations.

Remaining with our organisation that has perhaps an ISO9001 registration - and therefore a requirement to conduct internal audits as part of the maintenance of registration process - there is a management appointee having responsibility for the management system and consequently also the audit process. Driving this should be a Policy and an audit plan, although normally all one can see is an audit program, and that often defining what has happened rather than what should happen. However, whatever the planning or lack of planning, at some point an auditor sets forth to conduct an audit on some hapless individual or group.

All auditor training following the lead of the ISO Standards, specifically require the auditor to Plan the audit. There is planning and there is planning, and a successful audit is as much dependant on the planning as the execution. Given that an audit is intended to provide information to support the management of the business, the planning of the audit ought reasonably to be focused around the plans and objectives of that business. It is a sad fact that such planning as exists is seldom focused on the requirements of the organisation as would be identified by a review of its business plans and objectives. Internal auditors have an innate pre-disposition to audit against requirements they believe important, and report anything and everything that offends against this perception of business priorities, regardless of significance. Internal auditors also tend to believe that their business managers have no appreciation of the job the auditors perform, or the benefits they think they bring to the organisation. It is hardly surprising that both the auditors and their immediate supervision also tend to think and believe that because of the managerial indifference to their audit efforts the same managers have no interest in Quality or management systems.

So who does own the audit? For organisations typified here clearly the auditing group are the effective owners of the audit since their audit practice has alienated those who should be concerned with the outcome of each audit. In such organisations it is the auditors who pursue corrective actions, and 'escalate' problems to senior management. The same auditors fail to appreciate that it is their failings that lead to a rejection of internal audit as a tool for supporting process improvement. So long as the internal audit process is conducted as a confrontational exercise this situation will continue. But it doesn't have to be so. Organisations must change from internal audits that are remotely defined planned and reported, to a situation where audits are conducted directly for operational managers. Conducted also by auditors who understand the management processes and consequential needs for assurance. Only then can internal management audits become a welcomed assessment of individual and collective performance and achievement, and produce results that enable the auditee and auditor together to rejoice in an activity and achievement that furthers the objective of individual and the organisation. This however will not happen while organisations act as though internal audit is a necessary evil, to be conducted as a damage limitation exercise, using auditors having no understanding of the basic fact that internal auditing is a social skill quite as much as it is a technical skill.

Ed Bones is the founder and senior partner of Meon Consulting. Ed's experience includes technical and senior management positions with major players in the engineering and defence industries located in the UK, Europe and North America. Meon Consulting provides support for ISO Standard management system development and maintenance, also interim engineering and management resources. The Meon web site can be found at http://www.rent-an-auditor.co.uk

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