Internal Audit of Finance Department per ISO 9001:2008?

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Dubai_capi

Hi,

I am working for a finance department and will carry out an internal audit for them against ISO 9001:2008. I don't have that much experience in auditing accounts. Can a normal quality person be qualified to audit their processes or shall I be trained in account?

Thank you.
 
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somashekar

Leader
Admin
QMS: Is the finance department mapped within your QMS and is effectively being interacted with your other mapped QMS processes ?
Human Resource:Are the personnel in the finance department aware and trained on the requirement of ISO 9001:2008 and know about their method of operation in line with the PDCA approach ?
Internal audit training: Are you aware of the requirements of the internal auditing process and know how accounts function interacts with the other processes. What are their inputs >> activities >> outputs ?
 
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tomvehoski

If the Finance department has defined processes for operations that you can follow, I don't see a problem. A good process auditor should be able to audit most any process. I would expect that you could follow processes like how invoices are managed, capital expenditures are approved, project costing is monitored, etc.

If you are planning on auditing the books, bank accounts, tax filings, SEC information, etc. I would say you are probably in over your head if you are not a CPA or equivalent.
 

qusys

Trusted Information Resource
Hi,

I am working for a finance department and will carry out an internal audit for them against ISO 9001:2008. I don't have that much experience in auditing accounts. Can a normal quality person be qualified to audit their processes or shall I be trained in account?

Thank you.

Yes, of course.
First of all you shall agree the scope of audit and the related criteria with the process owner.
Even though you are not an expert of finance, you can audit it so far, no problem.
The question for you is the following: is this process inserted in the audit plan? is it relevant for your QMS?
Or, did the managemet give an input to you for this? Were some non conformities raised up in this process during thier operations?:bigwave:
 
D

Dubai_capi

thank you for reply,
i have experience in auditing.. and the account processes are in the QMS..
 

somashekar

Leader
Admin
Seems the situation is good to plan an internal audit and audit the accounts process and not the accounting principles, debit and credit methods or the auditing what the chartered accountants are responsible for. I am always keen on the audit aspects of how purchasing payments are communicated, processed in time and honoured and if any delays, then how they are communicated, about how the accounts are involved in budgeting for resource requirement and how these decisions come in the management review records. What is the involvement of accounts in the process of evaluation and selection of suppliers, Purchasing information to suppliers in terms of payment terms agreement.
May be you will have such and many more activities within accounts that are good to audit against your set requirements.
I appreciate your efforts in mapping the accounts process successfully. Good luck.
 
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plazma

We have two different parts of our handbook. In the general system description, there are provisions to "all" work done within the company, but there are none with regards to the finance department either in the general description or in the department specific processes. Should the finance department be "overlooked" in the internal audit if they are not the subject of any specific requirements?

This is my first audit, and the previous auditor left me with almost nothing (barely legible hand written notes from while I was still in college). As for the previous external audits, everything is in another language that I am not at all proficient in.


This site has been a HUGE help in my efforts, and I'm hoping the community can come through again.
 
W

Workability_Explorer

Fist of all why Finance Dept. should be audited either internally or externally (by certification body).
Second what clause of ISO 9001:2008 related to Finance Dept.?
 

qusys

Trusted Information Resource
Fist of all why Finance Dept. should be audited either internally or externally (by certification body).
Second what clause of ISO 9001:2008 related to Finance Dept.?

Is Finance a process that you have identified in your QMS? If yes, it could be be audited.
In ISO 9001no clause are related to Finance. The audit is performed with process approach and also you as organization shall implement the same approach.

In my working experience finance personnel might be involved when there is the audit of purchasing process , for example, or for question related to costs ( raw material, equipment,facilities etc...) related to product realization process, because the external audit will follow the trail of process approach.
Besides, Finance may be involved in the record retainment as well as documentation mgmt because the audito would like to see how you treat records and documents according to your documented procedure, sampling some activities like Finance one, for example.
Hope this helps:bigwave:
 
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