Do your internal auditors work in teams or individually?

GStough

Staff member
Super Moderator
#1
Hi fellow Covers....

I'm entering my 3rd year in this position and here I am considering our internal audit process again. The first year I was here (2005), we conducted our IAs as a team, the 3 of us (I'm the LA), and we were auditing one or more of our 15 processes every month. At the end of that year, my boss and I decided that a change was necessary. So, we developed the audit schedule and assigned each auditor 5 processes to audit for the next year (2006). The idea was that this would free up that precious commodity called "time", and at the same time build the auditors' confidence as they took on a more active roll in all phases of audit activities.....:rolleyes:

Well, that's not exactly what happened. Suffice it to say that they perform much better when they're part of a team. :bonk:

Ok, so now we're working on this year's audit schedule, and returning to working in teams. We have a new auditor who will be training with us, so we can work in teams of 2. We'll have to wait and see how this plan works...

Anyhow, I was just curious to find out how other companies handle their internal audits - do your auditors work in teams or alone? Would anyone like to share?
 
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Ted Schmitt

#2
Re: Do your auditors work in teams or individually?

Here we have 3 LA´s. We schedule two audits per year and during these audits, each LA audits certain processes. The opening, closing and writing of the final report is done with the 3 together. During the audit, the 3 of us work together sharing info (ex. Auditor A while auditing incoming inspection will pass on the info to Auditor B who is auditing supplier qualification).
 
D

DsqrdDGD909

#3
Re: Do your auditors work in teams or individually?

...

Anyhow, I was just curious to find out how other companies handle their internal audits - do your auditors work in teams or alone? Would anyone like to share?
We work in teams of 2 - one lead and 1 auditor. I have 6 lead auditors and 5 "regular" auditors.

We were all trained to work in teams - we think it works best that way.
 
A

andygr

#4
I highly recomend that you look to use teams.
One thing that using teams promote is consistancy. As each auditor works with the others they get to see how it is viewed by other auditors in the group.
Nothing frustrates those being audited more than differnaces from auditor to auditor ( except findings that should at best be observations)
 

SteelMaiden

Super Moderator
Super Moderator
#5
most of the time we audit in teams. safety in numbers? I have a couple of people, one on the quality side, one environmental that do not mind auditing on their own. We have about a dozen people trained for each quality and environmental, and started a cross training program last year so we could send 1 quality and 1 environmental auditor to an area and audit both.
 

Colin

Quite Involved in Discussions
#6
I think it depends on the ability of the auditors as to whether they work in teams or alone. I find that less experienced auditors definitely work better in a team but more experienced ones (generally) tend to want to 'go their own way' and not have to worry about a team member.

I think that a team moves more quickly over the ground because they are cross checking each other as they go and it tends to produce more in-depth results but the team can only be in one place at one time if they stick together. Another potential problem is that an auditee may feel a bit intimidated by a team of 2 or 3 being in front of them all at once.
 

SteelMaiden

Super Moderator
Super Moderator
#8
Another potential problem is that an auditee may feel a bit intimidated by a team of 2 or 3 being in front of them all at once.
here the auditors like to go in teams to protect themselves from the auditees..."aren't ya gonna ask about" "I can tell you about" "Don'cha wanna ask me about" Even our external auditors have commented on our personnel's total lack of shyness around auditors.
 

SteelMaiden

Super Moderator
Super Moderator
#10
Well, I definitely don't have to worry about an auditor trying to sandbag, someone would let me know! lol

Actually, it's a good bunch of people and I truly enjoy working with them. I especially love to see it when a customer or an auditor hired by a customer comes in thinking that they are "gonna get us". When you have a group of people who truly make it their mission every day to do the right stuff, it is hard to fault them.
 
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