Have you ever been audited and felt like the auditor’s findings were almost irrelevant in the context of your organization’s major challenges and goals? Did you sometimes feel like you've been handed a Mickey Mouse nonconformity given the issues your organization is confronting? But what is one to do, when maintaining registration to standards such as ISO 9001 is necessary, and therefore complying with the appointed auditor’s findings is part of the process? Let me provide some insights that might help you turn an audit into a win-win situation.

Why do we need surveillance audits in the first place?

Many standards, such as ISO 9001 and the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, which protects investors by improving the accuracy and reliability of corporate disclosures, require that organizations be audited periodically to ensure that the management or financial system (whichever is being audited) has been effectively implemented, and that it continues to meet the standard’s requirements. In essence the audit ensures that the organization is brought back to the path of compliance if there has been any deviation from the norm.

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