How to Implement a New Audit System in a Large Organisation

16 March 2023

As part of a big business, with locations across the country, you will be aware of how many checks and audits need completing at every venue and how regularly. If you are responsible for coordinating all these audits then your role is critical in ensuring that your operations in every location are running smoothly, efficiently, and within legal and regulatory requirements. However, to accomplish this, you must have a thorough understanding of the scope of your audit project and the specialised knowledge required to create an audit program from scratch and the tenacity to organise it.

In this article, we will discuss what the audit process means, the importance of adhering to a defined auditing process, and the steps experienced auditors take during an audit. We will also provide you with a thorough checklist of audit stages and factors to keep in mind as you prepare for assigning audits to your teams.

What is a Compliance Audit or Inspection and How Should You Do One?

Before we delve into the details of internal audit planning, it is important to understand what an audit is and its various types. A compliance audit is an assessment of an organisation’s adherence to legal and regulatory requirements as well as any internal Health and Safety or procedural practices that need checking. Location inspections can involve assessing an organisation’s physical location to ensure that it is operating safely and within legal and regulatory requirements.

What Happens in an Audit?

An audit is a process of gathering and analysing evidence to evaluate an organisation’s operations, compliance performance, and adherence with legal and regulatory requirements. During an audit, an auditor will review the physical environment, interview personnel, and conduct observations to assess the organisation’s effectiveness and efficiency.

Are There Several Types of Audits?

Yes, there are various types of audits, including internal audits, external audits, financial audits, operational audits, and compliance audits amongst others. In this article, we will focus on internal audits and compliance audits.

A Compliance Audit

A compliance audit is essential in ensuring that your organisation is adhering to legal and regulatory requirements. This type of audit assesses the extent to which your organisation complies with laws, regulations, policies, and procedures. It also identifies areas that require improvement to ensure continued compliance.

What is the Difference Between an Internal and External Audit?

Internal audits are conducted by your employees who can take the role of auditors within the organisation – this might be a store manager or a travelling specialist based in your Head Office. External audits, on the other hand, are conducted by independent auditors who are not part of your organisation but are often highly trained in very specific environmental or regulatory checks. The purpose of internal audits is to provide regular assurance to your Health and Safety and Compliance teams that all remote operations are running efficiently and effectively. External audits, on the other hand, provide an opportunity to assess specific, often more complex, situations and assure all stakeholders that locations are reliably compliant.

Does My Business Need to Complete Regular Inspections?

Yes, regular inspections are necessary to ensure that your organisation is operating safely and within legal and regulatory requirements. Compliance audits and location inspections are essential in identifying areas that require improvement to ensure compliance and prevent potential risks from developing.

What are the Responsibilities of an Auditor?

An auditor’s responsibilities include planning and conducting audits, assessing risks and controls, gathering evidence, analysing information, and preparing audit reports. Auditors also provide recommendations to management on how to improve operations and mitigate potential risks.

How Does Inform People Identify and Assign Auditors?

Inform People’s compliance and performance management software is tailored to your company’s job roles and organisational structure to give Auditing responsibilities only to those you identify as competent and responsible. Each checklist can be assigned differently, depending on the scope and complexity so you can make sure your Area Managers get their high level audits and the Managers in your locations get the more regular day-to-day checks. With individual accounts for every user, your audit trial is maintained indefinitely on our cloud based platform, past audits can’t go missing in filing cabinets or unshared spreadsheets.

What is My Responsibility as a Business Owner?

As a business owner, you should provide your internal auditors with access to all relevant documents and information necessary to conduct their audits effectively. You should also review audit reports and implement recommendations made by auditors to improve operations and prevent potential risks. Inform People’s platform makes all of the completed audit data very simple and easy to access, compare and take action on.

What is a Good Audit Process?

Planning your first online audit can be a daunting task. However, by following these steps, you can create a successful audit plan from scratch:

Do Your Research: Research the up-to-date legal and regulatory requirements that apply to your organisation and ensure that you understand them.

Keep All Relevant Documents Together Throughout the Year: Organise all relevant documents and information in a central location throughout the year to avoid scrambling for information when an audit arises. Make sure that your remote managers are doing this too and know how to access any centrally held information.

Speak to Your Auditors: Once you understand the scope of the audit you also need to ensure that you are providing the auditors throughout your organisation with all the necessary information on where, when and how to complete their checks.

Choose a Main Contact: Choose someone who will be responsible for coordinating with the auditors and providing them with any additional advice for completion, this might be you!

Check the Information Carefully: Double-check all information in your audit checklist to ensure that it is accurate and up-to-date. This includes running through all the questions in a trial run so that you can ensure that nothing is going to be missed.

Set and Automate Deadlines If You Can: Using an online tool for Auditing like Inform People’s Audit module will make it very simple to set deadlines for when the audit needs to be completed. Set a schedule for when they should be started, a duration for a target completion date and make sure they are only assigned to the relevant locations. For example, using location attributes in the organisational structure to ensure that Escalator Risk Assessments are only available to managers in locations with an escalator.

How Can My Business Benefit from Conducting a Location Audit?

Conducting location audits can help identify potential risks and hazards in your organisation’s physical locations. It can also flag up issues, allow you to assign corrective action and follow that through to a fix. This can help prevent accidents, ensure compliance with legal and regulatory requirements, and improve overall operations. By keeping on top of compliance you can show to your customers that you care too and improve your reputation.

How Much Does an Audit Cost?

The cost of an audit can vary depending on the size and complexity of the organisation, the scope of the audit, and the expertise of the auditor. It is important to discuss the cost with your auditor beforehand and ensure that it is within your budget. If you are getting external audits, this could be a costly, albeit necessary and beneficial outlay. Keeping the majority of your audits internal and implementing them via an online system like Inform People’s compliance software could cost you pennies per audit.

How Can Inform People Help You Build Your New Auditing System?

Inform People can provide you with specialised knowledge and tools to help you build a successful internal audit plan from scratch or by converting the audits and checklists that you are already using. We offer comprehensive consulting during setup, will use our knowledge of industry best practice to maximise your options, and by embracing our compliance and performance management software solutions help you streamline your audit process, ensure compliance, and improve your operations.