Whether its ensuring that your supplier is meeting the expected quality standards or its your company’s operational efficiency that concerns you the most, Internal and Supplier’s auditing is an extremely important process for your company.
While many companies continue to thrive by creating their own internal audit departments, there’s a continuous debate on what is better in the long run. Outsourcing your auditing obligations can greatly enhance your business’s credibility as compared to managing this function on your own.
Here’s what you should know about Internal and Supplier’s audit and why outsourcing it would be your best decision.
What Happens In An Internal Audit?
Internal audits are conducted to check if a company’s processes are meeting or exceeding the standards that were set by the company itself or confirm continual compliance to international standards such ISO 9001 or ISO 14001.
Internal audits aid in the evaluation of corporate governance and identification of areas for improvement as well as ensure compliance with set standards within the company.
Why Are Internal Audits Important?
Internal audits play a crucial role in a company’s operations. They can help you check the effectiveness of your company’s implemented Quality Management Systems (QMS) or Environmental Management System (EMS). The higher the effectiveness, the greater the operational efficiency will be.
In cases where a problem is evident, it is always beneficial for the company to identify it before-hand. Internal audits provide companies with an opportunity with which they can safeguard themselves and provide objective evidences of compliance. . They also help manage risk better.
Internal audits are also commonly known as First Party audits because they are conducted by, or on behalf of the company itself. However, this may result in biased reports which may be one of the main reasons why it is worth considering to outsource your auditing obligations to a consultant if you want to add the independence and credibility to them.
What Do Supplier’s Audit Entail?
Choosing a reliable supplier is one of the most critical tasks a company goes through. The supplier you choose determines the quality of your end product and the quality of your product is what determines its sales and consequently the profits for your company. Choosing a supplier that delivers high quality material, on time and as required is absolutely crucial for your business.
This is where a supplier’s audit comes into the picture. Supplier’s audits are known as Second Party audits and are conducted by parties having an interest in the supplier’s organization, such as customers, or by other individuals on their behalf.
So if your company has a supplier that delivers certain parts of a product to you, you can hire someone to do the audit for you to double-check quality, delivery expectations and supplier’s management system practices amongst other things that may be relevant to you.
Since, the main objective of running a supplier’s audit is to prevent any and all quality related issues from impacting the end-customer, it is absolutely necessary to get a clear idea on your supplier’s capabilities.
Why Should You Consider to Outsource Your Supplier’s and Internal Auditing Obligations?
Outsourcing your supplier’s and internal auditing obligations comes hand in hand with numerous benefits. It’s already evident that hiring an independent auditor to conduct first party and second party audits on your behalf can help bring a fresh perspective and more accurate, objective and independent recommendations for your company.
What’s more is that it offers you to sit back and relax while an expert auditor uncovers alternatives with which your company can improve management system and its processes and increase the overall efficiency. An auditor from outside your organization can help you locate issues that may have been missed out by your internal resources.
Outsourced companies usually have the best experts for internal and suppliers audit needs. These expert consultants have far greater knowledge, skills and experience in auditing and can save your company a lot of money that would be invested otherwise in the training of your internal resources for the same work.
Freeing your resources to focus on the core objectives of your company and therefore, optimizing efficiency of your workforce should be your top priority.
If you’re looking for an expert consultant to help you with your auditing needs, it is always a wise choice to hire an external party to do so. EQM Consult offers outsourcing consultancy services in suppliers audit and internal audit in cost-effective packages. Outsource your auditing obligations today and get the best objective evidences for your company.
Ph.D. Beata Paliwoda
Founder and Owner of EQM. Environmental and quality consultant and auditor. Professional career built in Quality Assurance departments in various companies from the automotive, aerospace, railway industries, as well as a management systems consultant. Successfully completed many complex projects related to the implementation of management systems, process improvements and business transformation. Auditor of ISO 9001, ISO 14001, AS 9100, project manager of APM, lecturer at the Poznan University of Business and Economics, researcher on the effectiveness of EMS and QMS in organisations.
