A compliance audit essentially looks for conformance to a set of rules or standards – the rules may be external (regulations) or internal, process and procedures-driven.
Certain areas of business, (in aviation there are many) can be described as high-risk. For these activities, audits play a significant role in establishing ongoing conformity with company processes and procedures.
What are compliance audits?
Compliance audits are designed to give assurance that activities have been performed properly and they are, of course, reactive. Compliance audits also tend to be binary - they either pass or fail. It is also fair to say that the compliance audit requires a lower level of auditor competence. Why? Because it is essentially rules-driven which means that there is a removal of subjective ambiguity. This audit is presented typically as a completed checklist of observed conditions at the time when it takes place.
The Role of Auditor Competence
Auditor Competence plays a significant role in delivering effective audits because they are essentially evaluating data.
This “data” may be analysed to determine if there are gaps when considered against expectations.
Note that the gaps, which are found may not always be a non-conformance with regulatory requirements but a non-conformance with the organisation's expected “standard”.
However, consider this still a finding as it is necessary to show full compliance with all internal requirements.
Things to consider during the audit:
a) Are procedures user-friendly (effective)?
b) Do established systems have the necessary scope to deliver (do they look and feel real)?
c) Is there sufficient consideration of resources being used by the auditee's process & department?
d) By analyzing patterns and repetitive findings, internal auditors can determine the possible causes of the observed non-conformance – consider examples of this.
e) Management is the control of resources. The goals of quality, safety, environmental oversight, and efficiency are all driven by the same set of rules. This is the Plan-Do-Check -Act (PDCA) approach.
f) A product audit is quite similar to an inspection, where the completed item or task is examined for the required characteristics. Sometimes, the finished item is even destroyed, as various characteristics are measured. Paperwork associated with the building of those items is also examined. They focus on the completeness of the finished process, activity, or services and do not require extensive training for the auditors. Their usefulness is in allowing verification of the completeness of the process.
g) Quality Management Principles accept that "A desired result is achieved more efficiently when activities and related resources are managed as a process".
h)This increased attention to processes naturally leads to increased attention to process auditing. Yet, many approach the process audit as if it were a small system audit.
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