New survey says senior managers not switched on to benefits of internal audits
Press release - 23 June 2008
Significant numbers of senior managers are not interested in internal company audits of their quality management systems – even though they can be hugely valuable in identifying potential business improvements.
That was the surprising result of a survey carried out recently when it was revealed that 30 per cent of senior managers are indifferent or negative to their own in-house audits.
The survey was carried out by BSI Learning and involved feedback from over 70 organisations that had sent delegates on its Lead Auditor training programme. Product Training Manager John Osborne 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.
“Internal audits can be very useful for reviewing and improving internal control systems; identifying the root cause of problems, identifying where changes and improvements can be made, are useful for risk management and improve the quality and quantity of information available for management decisions.”
The lack of engagement with senior managers was also confirmed by the fact that a significant number of annual audit plans are prepared without senior management sign off (42 per cent), and only 24 per cent of organisations 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, says Mr Osborne: “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!.”
For those auditors who wish to improve senior management engagement BSI has prepared a five point plan based on its experience and feedback from the research:
- Ensure that your audit plan is prepared with senior management involvement.
- Design the audit plan to tackle areas which have greatest 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 recognise 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.
Tips and techniques for addressing these issues are covered in BSI’s popular workshop titled Energise Your Audit. For details call +44 (0)845 086 9000 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting BEZPŁATNIE +44 (0)845 086 9000 end_of_the_skype_highlighting.
About BSI Group
BSI Management Systems is part of BSI Group, a global independent business services organization that inspires confidence and delivers assurance to customers with standards-based solutions. Originating as the world’s first national standards body, the Group has over 2,300 staff in more than 50 global offices. The Group’s key offerings are:
- The development and sale of private, national and international standards and supporting information
- Second and third-party management systems assessment and certification
- Product testing and certification of services and products
- Performance management software solutions
- Training services in support of standards implementation and business best practice.
For further information please visit www.bsigroup.com.
