Issue 115 – Ever see mistakes in the External Auditor’s report?
ISO 9001:2015…
Ever see mistakes in the External Auditor’s report?
I appreciate receiving emails with questions and/or comments from readers of this Newsletter… please continue to do so since it provides me with direction on where to aim the content of these publications. In my last Newsletter (ISO 9001:2015 Newsletter Issue 114) we discussed the topic of “ISO 9001:2015 Clause 10.1 and Clause 10.3, what’s the difference?”, and now in this Newsletter we will discuss “Ever see mistakes in the External Auditor’s report?”.
The ISO 9001:2015 Element numbering…
Element 4 – Context of the organization
Element 5 – Leadership
Element 6 – Planning
Element 7 – Support
Element 8 – Operation
Element 9 – Performance evaluation
Element 10 – Improvement
Ever see mistakes in the External Auditor’s report?… This question was emailed to me from my Client and actually, the wording was whether they should point out mistakes that were found in an External Auditor’s Report… and the reality is that most people don’t bother… unless it’s a significant or glaring error. Finding errors in an External Audit report is a constant thorn in my side. Do you know how many “External” Audit Reports that I read each year?… dozens and dozens… Do you know what is the most common theme I see? …sloppiness …laziness.
I am fairly sure that I have seen every possible mistake that someone can make on an External Audit Report. It’s embarrassing for me that some of my “peers” in this industry don’t bother to check for “Quality” of their own audit report before sending it out! I’m not perfect, and I occasionally make mistakes… but in the last 31 years I can count on one hand how many times I have sent out an Audit Report with an error.
As I said above, most of my Clients rarely send a follow-up email to their External Auditor pointing out errors, unless it’s a glaring mistake (like issuing a Nonconformance when none was ever mentioned). Their concern is usually that this might not be received well by the External Auditor, and could cause blow-back during the next visit.
How should you handle this?… If the External Audit Report has a significant error such as identifying nonconformances or opportunities for improvement that were never mentioned by the External Auditor (either the wrong number of audit findings were stated or wrong description given) then my advice would be to send an email and ask for clarification. You can soften the wording in your email if you want to step lightly, perhaps phrasing it as follows: “…on page 4 the report states <this>, but the result was <this>. Can you please clarify?”.
If you don’t ask for clarification then on the next External Audit visit they will re-read their previous report and ask you to show evidence of how you addressed this “phantom” nonconformance that was never sorted out. By the way, I’m assuming of course that you actually read the External Audit Report that was sent to you… believe it or not, some people forget to do that important step.
Regardless of the size of the errors in the audit report, I always… always… always… recommend that during the next External Audit visit, that my Client take the opportunity to casually point out some of the “mistakes” that were found in their previous report. If you don’t want to put the External Auditor on the spot, you can simply say that someone else brought it to your attention.
Doing this sends the External Auditor a clear message, as follows: a) You actually read every word within their report; b) They better not criticize errors in your Internal Audit report/notes (or even think about writing them up as findings), and most importantly; c) that an External Auditor is not perfect (and can make mistakes like the rest of us) so they shouldn’t get all worked up if during the audit they uncover others who have made an error/oversight.
I mentioned “sloppiness and laziness” up in the first paragraph because 8 times out of 10, the root cause of the mistake is because they copied and pasted from last year’s report… imagine that?… an External Auditor not following best practices, nor implementing “document control”, as outlined in Clause 7.5 of ISO 9001:2015!
If they would just take 5 minutes to re-read their own report before rushing to hit the “send” button then most of these mistakes would get caught… charging $$$ for sloppy work isn’t right when THEY are supposed to be checking you on your “Quality”!
Be sure to watch for our next Newsletter issue where I will be answering some of the questions that I get from Readers of my Newsletters about how to implement the requirements of ISO 9001:2015 in a specific and practical way, that will also help improve business performance…
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Need Help?
ISO 9001:2015 Internal Audit Outsourcing (we can do it for you OR with you!)
For cost effectiveness, the Internal Audit function can be outsourced to an external experienced auditor on a periodic basis. This will provide an independent and objective assessment to management, of where process issues may exist, along with identifying opportunities for improvement. It will also provide the evidence needed to satisfy the Internal Audit requirements in the ISO Standards. We have used two different approaches with this service: a) We conduct the entire audit ourselves, or b) We act as the lead auditor, and along with your Team of internal auditors, we complete the entire audit together. This latter approach allows your people to receive guidance and direction from an experienced lead auditor while at the same time maintaining significant involvement in the internal audit process.
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Internal Process Auditor Training for ISO 9001:2015
The two (2) day Internal Process Auditing for ISO 9001:2015 Training Session is focused on a process approach to auditing with the objective being not only to assess conformance of the quality management system, but also to uncover process improvements during an audit. This goes hand in hand with the process auditing requirements found within ISO 19011 and the process approach covered in ISO 9001:2015, which promotes continual process improvement throughout this Standard. An enhanced checklist is developed, and there will be workshops throughout, to reinforce learning, as well as a live, practice audit. If you are looking to meet the ISO 9001:2015 internal audit requirements and to “raise the bar” for your internal audit program then this is the course you should consider.
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Until next time…
Tim Renaud
Helping Business Professionals Reduce Risk and Remove Waste!