Audit systems: a fundamental support for companies

To understand what a corporate audit is, we must take a leap into the past, specifically to ancient Rome. At that time, the term "audit" referred to listening, in particular where public money administrators tracked accounting results through a hearing.

Today, the company audit means something slightly different, as it is a tool that analyzes the various areas of a system to understand if the procedures are respected. 

If a company has a management system, in compliance with ISO standards, then periodic audits are required to verify if the procedures adopted are in line with the company reality and if they are carried out correctly.

The audit must be entrusted to a professional auditor who, in full collaboration with the company staff, must collect as much data as possible and, if necessary, investigate why the set objectives have not been achieved.

We at We Are Fiber do just that: we identify the differences with the original model, map the risk areas and propose the best solutions. Our goal is to improve the performance of our customers by providing specific and tailor-made services, such as the virtual secretary, the control room and outsourced payroll.

Corporate risk audit at the time of Covid-19

In recent years, a business process audit based on a risk management model has been developed. In this way, not only is the entire organizational structure of the business controlled, but, in general, the economic and financial assets and internal efficiency of the company are preserved.

For about a year now, with the advent of the Covid-19 pandemic, the health and safety of workers has taken on an even more important role. In addition to the "extraordinary" protocols, which require greater controls to prevent the spread of the virus, we must not forget the standard ones aimed at guaranteeing the safety of workers.

Corporate security audits intended to prevent the spread of Covid-19 are focused on certain protocols, including:

• sanitation of environments;
• use of masks by employees;
• checks at the entrance;
• smart working.

An audit process therefore makes it possible to verify that all the necessary measures have been taken to prevent infection. This monitoring allows employees to work in a safe and secure environment, and entrepreneurs to certify the adoption of all necessary measures.

Of course, the audit also aims to monitor the “normal” pitfalls present in every workplace, which must be appropriately addressed. The audit processes must be organized according to specific updated checklists to demonstrate compliance with current regulations.

How to perform a company audit properly

The auditor, so as to understand the company organization in depth and collect useful and relevant data, must prepare a checklist.

There are 3 types of settings:

• for regulatory compliance;
• for optimization of a specific process;
• with supplementary questions tailored to the necessary requirements.

Each of these 3 categories is, in turn, divided into 3 phases:

• design verification (identification of the areas to be monitored, definition of the tools to be used, and planning of data collection activities);
• document analysis and verification of the correctness of the protocols with respect to legislation;
• evaluation of the results obtained and their statistical processing, to then adopt any required improvements.

The definition of a modern corporate audit does not differ much, at least from a semantic point of view, from the original Latin meaning. The auditor has the task of "listening" and obtaining information through interviews with employees and managers, inspections, observations, investigations and verifications of documents and conditions in the workplace.

At the end of the investigation, two different results can be obtained: non-compliance and observations. In the event of non-compliance, the discrepancies between the real condition and the procedures must be identified; in the case of observations, on the other hand, it is necessary to suggest the countermeasures to be adopted to solve problems or issues.

At the end of the company audit and assessment process, the auditor draws up a written report, which must provide useful ideas for improving the processes and the management of the area under investigation. For example, a company audit on a quality management system must be able to improve a product, and then supply it to the customer according to his or her specific requests.

First, second and third party

We speak of an internal company audit when we refer to the control and verification of the procedures implemented as conducted by internal staff, but it can also be entrusted to external personnel.

A second party audit is instead addressed to organizations in which there are particular interests, such as suppliers or partners. In this case, the activity can also be entrusted to internal staff or an external consultant.

Finally, a third party audit consists of monitoring the compliance and overall effectiveness of a company, entrusted to external personnel.

If you want to safeguard your business with effective and professional tools, we at We Are Fiber are at your disposal.

Contact us!