AUDITING THE MANAGEMENT SYSTEM

• Auditing is defined as a systematic and independent examination of data, statements, records, operations and performances of an enterprise for a stated purpose. In any auditing the auditor perceives and recognises the propositions before him/her for examination, collects evidence, evaluates the same and on this basis formulates his/her judgment which is communicated through his/her audit report.
• It is therefore, the auditors when auditing will perform based on a certain system. In the case of management systems it will based on certain management system e.g. ISO900 for quality system, OHSAS18001 for occupational health and safety system, ISO14001 for environmental system etc. They will not simply audit the organisation without referring the system where audit scope covers. Those systems are the standards agreed and accepted by a committee represented by many organisations all over the world.
• The scope and objectives for every audit are determined through discussion with the department's management and a department specific risk assessment. While each audit is unique, there are some general or common objectives applied to most audits. Audit will not or should not take place outside of the scope. The agreed scope should be determined by the management of the organisations to be audited.
• There are 3 types of audit namely first party audit (Internal audit), second party audit (normally supplier audit) and third party audit (normally audit by certification body).
• Internal auditing is an independent, objective assurance and consulting activity designed to add value and improve an organization's operations. It helps an organisation accomplish its objectives by bringing a systematic, disciplined approach to evaluate and improve the effectiveness of risk management, control, and governance processes. Internal auditing is a catalyst for improving an organization's governance, risk management and management controls by providing insight and recommendations based on analyses and assessments of data and business processes. With commitment to integrity and accountability, internal auditing provides value to governing bodies and senior management as an objective source of independent advice. Professionals called internal auditors are employed by organisations to perform the internal auditing activity.
• Second party audit is conducted by a customer for their suppliers to determine the suppliers meet their requirement; quality, safety, environmental etc.
• Third party audit sometimes refer to certification audit is conducted by a certification body which is accredited by an international accreditation body. The purpose of audit is to certified a certain organisation with a certicate of compliance such as ISO9001 or ISO14001 or OHSAS18001 etc.