Quarterly vs. Yearly Internal Audits

[CarolX]

I need some opinions here----

and I know this may not be "best pratice", but....

We want to change our internal audit schedule from quartly audits (auditing 1/4 of the manual per quarter) to anual audit of the whole system?

Thoughts?

Thanks,
CarolX

[Aaron Lupo]

Carol, I see absoutley nothing wrong with that as long as you can show that your system is opearting effectivly. There is no requirement that audits be done monthly, bi-monthly, quarterly etc..., the only thing I would have a problem with is, if I was your registrar and when I come in I see lets of non-conformances. However, if I come in and things look pretty clean then that would suffice. You want to make sure you look at your system evaluate it and the areas where you see more problems occuring bump up the frequency of the audits for them. JMHO.

[Randy Stewart]

Carol,
Depending on the size of the company and the amount of internal inquisitors you have, you may want to back down in steps. Instead of quarterly try 6 months before jumping to 1 year. Just in the event that the first surveillance audit happens to find an increase in discrepancies. Just a thought, BTW we are at 9 month intervals and haven't had a problem.

[db]

Sometimes I think Stew and I are chasing each other around the Cove. Perhaps one of us talks (writes) too much!

Annual scheduling of audits can have some drawbacks and I encourage you to think about it. First of all, it does not necessarily meet the status and importance test. Secondly, audits might be spread out too far to react to changes in the QMS, or business.

One company I worked with solved both of the above by instituting "supplemental" audits. These audits are initiated 30 days after a triggering event, such as a major change in a process, or an update of a procedure.

Another company performs theirs at 6 months, three months after the survellience audts. This way audits are being performed quarterly, but only using the resorurces of semi-annual audits.

Don't be afraid to use the information of survellience, or 2nd party audits to your advantage!

[E Wall]

We also audit each process once a year, but ensure that it is scheduled midyear to the period audit done 3rd-party.

As long as your programme is effective and you can prove it...it's your call!

Eileen

[gpainter]

I think a 6 month schedule is the way to go. Schedule it so your schedule ends the month before your surveillance audit. This way you and the auditor are working off the same snapshot.

[M Greenaway]

Carol

Audits should scheduled based on status and importance, not just routinely done at a prescribed frequency.

[db]

Martin said:

Audits should scheduled based on status and importance, not just routinely done at a prescribed frequency

I agree, as stated in my earlier post. However, just a not so random thought ...what if our system is fairly mature, and there is not a great need for change (a bit of a stretch). We could conceivably audit quarterly or even every six months (Is that bi-annually?) and still meet the status and importance requirements.

I admit that this is a stretch, and most organizations may shout this, but rarely will be able to meet the need.