Is it good to outsource the Internal Audits?

[Fawzy]

Is it good to outsource the internal audit? if yes what is the best practice to do it

 

[DannyK]

Re: OUTSOURCING THE INTERNAL AUDIT

It depends on the size of the organization, resources, maturity of the system and the presence of qualified internal auditors within the company.
Companies have found it beneficial to outsource the internal audit since they do not have the internal resources and internal capabilities to perform the audit.
It makes sense to hire someone locally with good references and knowledge and experience within your industry.
A good practice is to have trained internal auditors accompany the consultant to observe the way that audits are performed.

 

[Marc]

Re: Is it good to outsource the internal audit?

For a good discussion Your Internal Audit Team: Internal or Hired External? Outsourcing Internal Audits

 

[somashekar]

Re: Is it good to outsource the internal audit?

Is it good to outsource the internal audit? if yes what is the best practice to do it

Welcome to the COVE Fawzy ~~~
Its Bad....
- The involvement of people within the organization is missed.
- Opportunity to understand company processes is missed.
- A learning opportunity is missed.
- It is not a specialized process that one cannot do internally.
- The same money can be used towards internal audit training many times
- You may be tempted to approach the same outsourced agency to recommend corrective actions, since he is paid. People involvement becomes less.
- Internal auditing is not a burden.

 

[Fawzy]

Re: Is it good to outsource the internal audit?

THANK YOU

 

[yodon]

Re: Is it good to outsource the internal audit?

With all due respect to Somashekar, I disagree with the blanket "it is bad" statement. There are numerous upsides to contracting it out:
* Independent perspective sees things that are taken for granted (cognative dissonance)
* No pressure to "look the other way" when auditing associates
* No pressure from management to soften the blow
* Having employees explain the process to an outsider sometimes reveals inconsistencies
* It *is* a specialized process - it requires training or experience that may not be available with internal staff
* An auditor following a code of ethics would recuse him/herself from auditing if they were providing consulting services
* If there's only marginal management support, using internal staff may devolve into a no-added-value box-checking exercise

 

[Marc]

Re: Is it good to outsource the internal audit?

That is why I put in the link in my post above. This has been extensively debated over the years. For some companies it is very good, for other not so much. For more discussions here, see: Discussions about Outsourcing Internal Audits in a company

Personally I don't have a problem with outsourcing internal audits.

 

[Kronos147]

Re: Is it good to outsource the internal audit?

I heard through the grapevine the company I left last year hired a consultant to do the internal audit, and to rep the company for the first Registrar audit to take place with out me there.

I was told the consultant made a change to a record in front of the auditor in a non-approved manner (crossed out the 'bad' info and wrote the new info next to it). This resulted in a major non-conformance for the company.

This was an issue on previous audits. The internal audit checklist I left behind started by asking every auditee about the quality policy and if they knew how to make a change to a record.

IMHO, someone on the management team should take the time to read the standard, read the quality manual, and do the internal audit. Anything less suggests a problem with management commitment to the QMS.

Having a consultant in to review the records and procedure of the internal audit is something else entirely.

 

[Marc]

Re: Is it good to outsource the internal audit?

<snip> I was told the consultant made a change to a record in front of the auditor in a non-approved manner (crossed out the 'bad' info and wrote the new info next to it). This resulted in a major non-conformance for the company.

This was an issue on previous audits. The internal audit checklist I left behind started by asking every auditee about the quality policy and if they knew how to make a change to a record. <snip>

Sounds to me like a simple case of a bad consultant and, since it was a recurrence with respect to the employees, employees are not following procedures (indicating potentially bigger problems).

 

[natecsss]

Re: Is it good to outsource the internal audit?

At our company we have multiple employees trained and certified as internal auditors. However, since it was our first audit (two new quality employees), the previous quality manager came on as a consultant to assist the internal audits.

While it's preferred to have employees audit I don't think it's a bad things to have to outsource it either. With outsourcing you can take the managment and employer bias out of the audit. It probably shouldn't alwasy be outsourced but it doesn't hurt.