MichaelWah said:
What/How to audit a Finance/Account Dept?
Please share your experience and knowledge.
Thank you.
I can only assume you meant in regards to a quality system and not a full blown financial audit. If we are infact talking about a Quality System audit, then proceed as Randy directed. They are no different from manufacturing, welding, assembly, etc. They should have a defined SOP, they should have defined quality objectives, they should have defined targets and goals. They also should have a list of aspects and impacts (for ISO14K)
Just because they are a bunch of paper pushers does not exempt them from the auditing process.
Our accounting department (6 people) thought they were exempt and our Purchasing Manager fought tooth and nail to not have to do anything in regards to our system
(I truly thought he woke up in the mornings and thought of ways to not comply) I ended up auditing their department the way I would any department and identified several "Opportunities for Improvement" as well as some "Minor N/Cs" . We created some Quality objectives, we created an SOP and then set some targets. Lo and behold we reduced our number of accounts that were 90+ past due to almost zero, and showed great reduction in our Over 60 and Over 30 categories as well. turns out it was not our true our customers were deadbeats, our accounting department was not following up. (Money always makes people notice)
On the other hand, if you are looking for a full blown financial audit, might I recommend or suggest KPMG, PriceWaterHouse Coopers or Arthur Anderson (oops maybe not them) but the others are ok.
Good luck.