Re: Is an Internal Quality Audit Checklist neccessary?
I think the comparison to a shopping list is a good one; if I have more than four or five items I always make a list, but others might not. Checklists have a tendency to act as limiting factors, and I've seen instances where things were deliberately overlooked because they weren't on the checklist, which would be analogous to me going to the store and realizing after I got there that we needed bread but not buying any because it wasn't on my list.
Checklists might be helpful to novice auditors to guide them through the paces until they're comfortable with what they're doing, but they should never be allowed to act as crutches, and never be considered all-inclusive.
The use of a checklist is much like going to a store/shop - it depends on who's doing the shopping and how complex the shopping task is. If you are the one doing the work and you did the right planning, you might not need much of a list. However, most of us would walk away having forgotten something. For someone not familiar, they might not know what to look for.
So, the answer to this simple but very dangerous question is really "only if you want an effective audit'.......
Let's face it, for most auditors & audit managers, the preparation of checklists is a P-I-T-A task, when, in fact it should be used to 'immerse' the auditor in the process, it's issues, customer requirements etc. so that the culmination is a 'worksheet' which helps the auditor focus their audit on the effectiveness of the process and it's ability to perform for the management and the customer. This will help the audit be much more value added to the auditees, rather than simply sticking to a bunch of unrelated questions, generated off the standard etc.
We tend to adopt checklists for other reasons, however......
So, the answer to this simple but very dangerous question is really "only if you want an effective audit'.......
Let's face it, for most auditors & audit managers, the preparation of checklists is a P-I-T-A task, when, in fact it should be used to 'immerse' the auditor in the process, it's issues, customer requirements etc. so that the culmination is a 'worksheet' which helps the auditor focus their audit on the effectiveness of the process and it's ability to perform for the management and the customer. This will help the audit be much more value added to the auditees, rather than simply sticking to a bunch of unrelated questions, generated off the standard etc.
We tend to adopt checklists for other reasons, however......
Checklists might be helpful to novice auditors to guide them through the paces until they're comfortable with what they're doing, but they should never be allowed to act as crutches, and never be considered all-inclusive.
