Auditing techniques include:
- Observation of evidence and operations
- Interviewing auditee personnel
- Verifying the audit finding, and
- Recording the findings and nonconformances
- Tell me/show me:
This technique is one of the most effective in conducting audits.
The auditor simply requests the auditee to explain or walk him/her
through the activity or operation being audited. Questions need to
be open-ended and precise. Open-ended questions are seen as less
adversarial than closed-ended questions such as: “Why do you do the
job this way?” or worse “Is this the way you suppose to be doing
this job?”
The
better audit question is:
Tell me how you conduct this operation.
Tell me how you make sure that this operation is effective.
Tell me what the inputs to the process are.
Tell me what the process outputs are.
Tell me how the outputs link to other operations/processes.
Tell me what the objectives of the operation are.
In addition, to closed-ended questions being somewhat adversarial,
they don't include the opportunity for the interviewee to answer
beyond yes or no. Therefore, they don't inherently contain the
opportunity for the auditor to learn anything about the operation
except yes or no. It's also common for companies to have instructed
their people to "answer the auditor's question and then shut up".
So, when you ask a closed-ended question don't be surprised if you
get a closed-ended answer.
The next step is to compare the information gathered with
procedures, instructions, standards, forms, checklists, computer
system entries, and/or actual operation. Examples of auditing
questions are:
Show me the workmanship standard or procedure you use for this job.
Show me how you monitor/measure the operation.
Show me how your objectives/requirements are defined.
The next step is to verify the processes are operated consistently
by looking at objective evidence of compliance such as records,
employee knowledge, compliant product handling.
The links below are excerpts from the our
e-book "Explanations and Definitions
for ISO 19011:2002"
Section 1. ISO 19011 Scope
reference and definitions
Section 2. ISO 19011 Principles of
auditing
Section 3. ISO 19011 Managing an
audit program
Section 4. ISO 19011 Audit program
implementation
Section 5. ISO 19011 Audit
activities
Section 6. ISO 19011 Preparing for
onsite activities
Section 7. ISO 19011 Conducting
onsite activities
Section 8. ISO 19011 What the
auditor is looking for
Section 9 ISO 19011 Audit
reporting
Section 11. ISO 19011 Audit path
Section 12. ISO 19011 Effective
communications
Section 13. ISO 19011 Sampling
Section 14. ISO 19011 Audit
completion and follow-up
Section 15. ISO 19011 Competence
and evaluation of auditors
This represents a summary of the section in ISO 19011:2002. It's
suggested that you obtain an actual copy of the standard to refer to
for auditing program purposes.
EBook
"Explanations and Definitions for ISO 19011:2002"
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