RJS Business Systems has many years of
providing lead auditor training.
Director Richard Saul has seen it all when
it comes to auditing, and he’s used his vast experience to work out the best
way to deal with each of these situations.
Richard's first tip is that you have to
learn to add value to your reports so that management who read them will be
much more inclined to act upon them. Adding your observations is one way to do
this.
His second tip, and a most important one is
that it is not enough to simply understand the ISO standards you are auditing
against. Use the analogy of rote learning. Many people can memorise information
so that they can recite it when called upon, such as in an exam, but often they do not
really understand how to apply what they learnt. In auditing it is critical to
be able to assess a situation and work out which standard to apply, then
determine which clause of that standard it the right one. Just knowing the
rules to follow isn’t enough.
You must also use your application of these
standards to help those who have the decision making power to understand the
risks and benefits.
With increased competitiveness in the
business environment, companies have to continuously assess their products or
services and improve the quality . As a result of this competitive environment,
the Institute of Internal Auditors (IIA) says that the market for ISO internal
audits has doubled over the last 10 years. So auditors are becoming more and
more in demand, and so too are the skills they require.
Good auditors require good training –
ideally comprehensive courses that include an interactive component so you
learn skills through practical application of theory. Hand in hand with an
interactive style of teaching is the requirement to work in small groups where
everybody gets a chance to share ideas. The course material needs to be
comprehensive. You should be able to use your material to simulate a real
audit.
For corporations and larger companies,
in-house training is the perfect option. Auditor training can be tailored to
the specific needs of your company or those that you work for, by using real life case studies. An added bonus is that it’s usually a very
cost effective way to train staff.
