BSI: Surveys Find Senior Managers Indifferent to Benefits of Quality Management Audits
July 1, 2008 // Published as a news service by IHS
| |
| Tools for Engineers |
IHS sells flexible standards collections and software to maximize your workflow.
To learn more, and for a free quote, please complete the form below. |
|
| |
Approximately 30% of senior managers are not interested in internal company audits of their quality management systems, even though these audits can be used to identify potential business improvements, according to a survey by BSI Learning.
The survey involved feedback from more than 70 organizations.
John Osborne, product training manager, said, "This research shows that the benefits of internal audit activity are really not understood as widely as they should be, and that’s a great shame."
According to Osborne, internal audits can be useful for reviewing and improving internal control systems, identifying the root cause of problems and identifying where changes and improvements can be made.
They are also useful for risk management and improve the quality and quantity of information available for management decisions,he said.
The survey also found that 42% of annual audit plans are prepared without senior management sign-off, and only 24% of organizations discussed audit findings at regular senior management meetings.
One of the reasons may be that the financial side of conducting audits is also a neglected area, Osborne said.
"Over 60% of respondents said that the benefits or improvements resulting from the internal audit findings are not converted to financial savings, which was surprising and is a missed opportunity to communicate with senior managers in their language," he said.
For auditors who wish to improve senior management engagement, BSI suggests the following five-point plan:
- Ensure that your audit plan is prepared with senior management involvement.
- Design the audit plan to tackle areas with the most impact on the achievement of business objectives or reduction of business risk.
- Communicate the role and benefits of audits to staff at all levels, and recognize that the benefits will be different according to different roles and responsibilities.
- Calculate the return on investment that auditing delivers, and if that is not positive, then review the focus and purpose of the audits.
- Provide feedback on the audit findings more often than at the annual management review.
Source: BSI Group.