First of all, the customer of the audit should be clear. This doesn’t have to be the person organising the audit. This is the person or group who agree to the audit purpose and scope, and who will be presented the results of the audit. They will have responsibility for ensuring the subjects of the audit remedy any issues found. The customer might be the business owner or Board, or for small audits, it could be a manager.
Internal audits should be initiated for a reason, so you should first establish what you’re trying to achieve. Examples include:
Once you’ve done this you can start planning your audit with a clear focus. Planning includes:
You should also determine an audit frequency that suits your organisation going forward, that meets required standards and is based on the safety risk of the areas being audited.