Self-assessment: third-party auditor impartiality
How do you ensure that impartiality and objectivity are basic prerequisites when you conduct an audit? The Auditing Practices Group has developed some guidance on good behavioural practices. It is aimed to benefit auditors themselves and the bodies in charge of assessing auditor behaviour certification bodies (CBs) and accreditation bodies (ABs). Try our self-assessment task to see whether you are getting it right.
Premise
The overall aim of third-party certification is to give confidence to all parties that rely on certification. The main principles for inspiring confidence are independence, impartiality and competence, both in action and appearance.
The trouble is that there are various threats to auditor independence and impartiality. It is the CB’s role to identify and analyze the effects of these threats that are sources of potential bias and, together with the auditor, to safeguard auditor impartiality.
How do you score?
Do you always take into account the following threats when you conduct a third-party audit?
- Self-interest threats — auditors acting in their own emotional, financial or personal interest
eg. an employment relationship exists between auditor’s family members and an auditee - Self-review threats — auditors reviewing the work done by themselves or by their colleagues
- Familiarity (or trust) threats — auditors being influenced by a close relationship with an auditee
eg. an auditor has a particularly close or long-standing personal or professional relationship with an auditee - Intimidation threats — auditors being openly or secretly coerced by auditees or by other interested parties
eg. an auditor or CB is threatened with replacement over a disagreement with the auditee
For a discussion of further threats see the APG Paper Third-Party Auditor Impartiality and Conflict of Interest.
Your CB should have in place safeguards that mitigate or eliminate threats to auditor impartiality. These should be regularly reviewed to ensure their continuing applicability. Safeguards may include:
- prohibitions
- restrictions
- disclosures
- policies
- procedures
- practices
- standards
- rules
- institutional arrangements
- environmental conditions.
How does your CB score (part 1)?
Which of the following safeguards does your organization always ensure exist to prevent auditor bias within the environment in which you audit?
- placing value on their reputation and the reputation of individual auditors
- following an accreditation programme that assesses organization-wide compliance with professional standards and regulatory requirements regarding impartiality
- setting up a committee and/or governance structure to oversee compliance with impartiality criteria
- fostering a culture that supports the certification process and auditor impartiality
- implementing rules, standards, and codes of professional conduct governing auditors’ behaviour
- the raising of sanctions by accreditation bodies/IAF and others
- the legal liability faced by CBs
- prohibiting auditors from providing consultancy to the clients they are auditing.
How does your CB score (part 2)?
Has your organization ensured that the following safeguards exist within their management system?
- maintaining a culture where auditors are always expected to act in the wider interest and conduct impartial audits
- maintaining a professional environment that supports behaviour of all personnel consistent with auditor impartiality
- policies, procedures and practices directly related to maintaining auditor impartiality
- other policies, procedures and practices, such as those concerning the rotation of staff, internal audit, and requirements for internal consultation on technical issues
- policies and procedures related to the hiring, training, promotion etc. of personnel that emphasize the importance of auditor impartiality and the potential threats [hyperlink?] to auditor bias (see above for threats)
- an induction programme for newly hired auditors that emphasizes the importance of impartiality
- prohibitions against certain employment relationships between auditors’ family members and the CB’s clients
- a zero tolerance policy enabling ABs to immediately suspend or withdraw accreditation.
Hopefully you were able to tick all the boxes here. However, if you are worried about the level of potential bias in your auditing environment, perhaps it would be good for your CB to assess or reassess the level of impartiality risk that it is exposed to.
Again, the ISO Auditing Practices Group has guidance in sections 5 and 6 of the following document Third-Party Auditor Impartiality and Conflict of Interest.
The ISO 9001 Auditing Practices Group is an informal group of quality management system (QMS) experts, auditors and practitioners drawn from the ISO Technical Committee 176 quality management and quality assurance (ISO/TC 176) and the International Accreditation Forum (IAF). It has developed a number of guidance papers and presentations that contain explanations about the auditing of QMSs. These reflect the process-based approach that is essential for auditing the requirements of ISO 9001.
This article is an edited version of 'Third Party Auditor Impartiality and Conflict of Interest' from the website of the ISO 9001 Auditing Practices Group and is reproduced courtesy of ISO and the IAF. These papers were developed on current best practice and therefore have not been formally endorsed as IAF guidance or ISO TC176 interpretations. Follow the link for further information about the Auditing Practices Group.
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