How to Conduct a Quality Audit in your Company

Do you want to deliver high-quality products or services to your customers, avoid costly mistakes and risks, and increase their satisfaction and loyalty? If so, you need to know how to conduct a quality audit in your company. A quality audit is a way of checking how well your processes, procedures, and standards meet your goals and expectations. It can also help you find out where you can improve your quality management system and make it more effective. In this blog post, you will learn what a quality audit is, why it matters, how to get ready for it, and what types of audits you can choose from.

You will also discover how to use an audit trail to keep track and record of your audit activities and results. Whether you are planning an internal audit or preparing for an external one, this guide will help you ace your quality audit and boost your performance and reputation.

Goals of a Quality Audit

You know what they say: quality is not an act, it's a habit. But how do you know if your habits are good enough? How do you make sure that your products or services are not just satisfactory, but outstanding? Well, you need to do some homework. And by homework, I mean a quality audit. A quality audit is like a pop quiz for your business. It's when someone who knows a lot about quality (like me) comes and checks if you're following the rules of a quality management system (QMS), such as ISO 9001:2015 . A QMS is like a recipe book for quality. It tells you what ingredients you need, how to mix them, and how to bake them into a delicious cake of customer satisfaction. A quality audit is when I taste your cake and tell you if it's yummy or yucky. And trust me, you don't want me to spit out your cake. The main goals of a quality audit are :

To ensure compliance with the QMS standards, policies and procedures
To ensure compliance with the organization's goals and strategies
To ensure compliance with other regulatory or statutory requirements
To ensure the effective implementation of QMS across the organization
To identify opportunities for improvement in various areas or processes

A quality audit can be performed internally by your own staff (internal audit), externally by an independent third party (external audit), or by your customers or suppliers (second-party audit). Depending on the type and scope of the audit, it can focus on a specific product, service, process or system. A quality audit typically follows four phases: planning, preparation, execution and reporting. In this blog post, we will explain each phase in detail and provide some tips on how to conduct a successful quality audit.

Preparation for a Quality Audit

If you run a business, you want to make sure that everything you do is top-notch and efficient. But how do you know if your actions match your goals and follow the rules? That's when you need quality audits. A quality audit is like a check-up for your organization. It looks at what you do and how well you do it, and compares it to what your customers, partners, and industry expect from you.

Quality audits can help you find out what's working well and what needs improvement in your processes, products, or services. They can also help you get ready for external audits by regulators or certification bodies. In this blog post, we will talk about the different kinds of quality audits, such as internal audits, compliance audits, performance audits, operational audits, environmental audits, and IT audits.

We will also show you how to plan and do a quality audit using the ISO 9001 standard as an example. ISO 9001 is one of the most popular quality management systems in the world that tells you what you need to do to make your customers happy and keep improving. Whether you already have it or want to get it, following the ISO 9001 guidelines can help you ace a quality audit.

Types of Audits

If you run a business or work for an organization, you probably know what audits are. They are a way of checking if everything is going well and according to the rules. Audits can help you find out if there are any problems, mistakes, scams, waste, or ways to do better. But did you know that there are different kinds of audits? Depending on what you want to check and how you want to check it, you can choose from various types of audits.

In this blog section, we will tell you about some of the most common types of audits and what they do. We will also give you some examples of when you might need or want to do each type of audit.

1) External Audit

An external audit is conducted by an independent third party, such as a certified public accounting (CPA) firm, to provide an opinion on whether the financial statements or other information prepared by an entity are fair, accurate, and in accordance with applicable standards or regulations. External auditors follow generally accepted auditing standards (GAAS) and must adhere to ethical principles and professional codes.

External audits are usually required by law or contract for publicly traded companies, government agencies, non-profit organizations, banks, and other entities that need to demonstrate accountability and transparency to their stakeholders . External audits can also provide assurance to investors, lenders, customers, suppliers, regulators, and others who rely on the entity's financial information.

2) Internal Audit

An internal audit is conducted by someone within the entity or hired by the entity to evaluate its internal controls, processes, policies, procedures, and systems. Internal auditors aim to provide assurance that the entity is operating effectively, efficiently, and in compliance with internal and external requirements. Internal auditors also make recommendations for improvement and monitor the implementation of corrective actions.

Internal audits are usually initiated by the management or board of directors of an entity to assess its performance, risk management, governance, and quality of operations . Internal audits can also help prepare for external audits by identifying potential issues and resolving them before they become material misstatements or non-compliances.

3) IRS Tax Audit

An IRS tax audit is conducted by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) to verify the accuracy of a taxpayer's filed tax returns and determine whether they have paid their correct tax liabilities. IRS auditors review the taxpayer's income, expenses, deductions, credits, and other relevant information to check for errors, omissions, or frauds. IRS tax audits are usually selected randomly or based on certain criteria such as income level, type of business, or discrepancies with other sources of information. IRS tax audits can result in additional taxes, penalties, or interest if discrepancies are found or refunds if overpayments are discovered.

4) Financial Audit

A financial audit is a type of external audit that focuses on examining the financial statements of an entity to express an opinion on whether they present fairly its financial position, performance, and cash flows in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP) or other relevant frameworks. Financial auditors test the transactions, balances, disclosures, and assertions that support the financial statements by obtaining sufficient appropriate audit evidence from various sources such as documents, records, observations, inquiries, confirmations, and analytical procedures.

Financial audits are often required by law or contract for entities that need to report their financial results to external parties such as shareholders, regulators, creditors, donors, or grantors. Financial audits can also enhance the credibility and reliability of the financial statements.

Conducting the Quality Audit

Conducting the quality audit is a fun and exciting activity that every project manager should look forward to. It's a great opportunity to showcase your achievements, impress your stakeholders, and learn from your mistakes. But how do you conduct a quality audit that is both effective and enjoyable? Here are some tips:

Start by preparing a detailed checklist of all the quality standards, criteria, and metrics that you need to verify. Make sure you include some obscure and irrelevant ones to confuse and challenge your auditors.
Next, gather all the evidence of your compliance with the quality requirements. This can include documents, records, reports, testimonials, samples, etc. If you don't have enough evidence, don't worry. You can always make some up or borrow from other projects.
Then, schedule the audit session with your auditors. Try to pick a time that is inconvenient for them, such as early in the morning or late in the evening. This will make them more likely to rush through the audit and miss any flaws or gaps in your quality performance.
During the audit session, be confident and assertive. Answer all the questions with enthusiasm and conviction. If you don't know the answer, just make something up or deflect with another question. If you encounter any criticism or feedback, ignore it or argue with it.
Finally, after the audit session, thank your auditors for their time and effort. Give them a nice gift basket or a certificate of appreciation. This will make them feel guilty and less likely to report any negative findings or recommendations.

By following these steps, you can conduct a quality audit that is both fun and funny. You will also ensure that your project meets all the quality expectations and standards without any hassle or stress.

Conclusion

You've made it to the end of this blog post on how to conduct a quality audit in your company. Congratulations! You are now ready to unleash your inner auditor and start finding and fixing all the flaws in your processes, products and services. But before you do, let me remind you of some key points:

A quality audit is a systematic and objective examination of your company's activities and outputs against predefined standards or criteria.
A quality audit can help you identify gaps, risks, opportunities and best practices for improvement.
A quality audit can be internal or external, depending on who performs it and who benefits from it.
A quality audit can be conducted using various methods and tools, such as interviews, surveys, checklists, observations and tests.
A quality audit should follow a clear plan that defines the scope, objectives, criteria, methods and schedule of the audit.
A quality audit should result in a report that summarizes the findings, conclusions and recommendations of the audit.

I hope you found this blog post useful and informative. If you did, please share it with your friends and colleagues who might also benefit from it. And if you have any questions or feedback about quality audits or anything else related to quality management, feel free to leave a comment below or contact me directly. I'd love to hear from you!

Thank you for reading and happy auditing!

Paradox