Auditing is a powerful tool for improving management systems and achieving sustainable results, but many organizations do not maximize the return on their audit program investments. Why? Because many audits fail to uncover information that management can use to achieve performance excellence.

A destructive cycle begins: Even though the audit program is a value-added initiative, management stops paying attention to it because the audit program doesn’t address the issues important to management: strategy and ROI. The audit program then can’t improve because management won’t provide the resources needed for it to perform at a higher level.

This article suggests that organizations can end this cycle and improve their audit programs by:
• Adding performance-related issues to the audit criteria
• Enhancing their audit methodology
• Building auditor skills with advanced training
• Creating a new vision for the audit program to align with business strategy

The recommendations proposed here apply primarily to internal and second-party audits (or supplier audits) but may also apply to third-party audits (e.g., audits conducted by accredited certification bodies).

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