Does your organizations utilize the internal audit process to drive continuous improvement? Do your internal audits add value to your organization? Are your audits viewed as a negative and disruptive process? Is auditing just an exercise to check the box for compliance? Are your internal auditors trained to conduct a value-added audit? If not, it is time to change your approach.

Value Added audits should be integrated in your approach to auditing your management system. The objective is to focus on performance indicators and quality objectives to assess suitability and effectiveness of a given process. The objective is to identify non-value-added activities including :

• Unnecessary Reviews
• Unnecessary Logs (including paper & electronic)
• Redundant Activities
• Secondary Work Around Systems
• Activities With Long Cycle Times
• Information Waiting in Queue
• Insufficient Equipment

This is accomplished by really digging in and truly engaging the auditee. As a result, you should document opportunities for improvement.

The auditor should ask “why do we do things this way?” Can we stay compliant with the ISO standard with a different approach? Engage the auditee in dissecting the process with a “Lean” mine set. How can we streamline the process? Internal audits is a time to take an introspective view of a process while ensuring compliance.

To learn more on how TQS can help you change your auditing approach to drive continuous improvement in your organization, feel free to contact Vincent Zottola, TQS COO.

For a free no obligation consultation contact Vincent Zottola at vzottola@tqsservices.com. You can also visit our website at tqsservices.com. We offer a series of online internal auditor courses.