IRCA Corporate Auditor programme accredited by UKAS
IRCA announced today that its new Corporate Auditor programme has been accredited by UKAS to ISO/IEC 17024:2003, General requirements for bodies operating certification of persons.
The Corporate Auditor programme has been developed in response to industry’s desire for a new, more competent auditor able to provide meaningful audit findings for top management on how the management system(s) support the organization’s business strategy and objectives and how its meets the organization’s stakeholder needs.
Lord Lindsay of UKAS presents IRCA Director, Simon Feary, the accreditation certificate.
IRCA Director, Simon Feary, explained that ‘as well as meeting industry requirements, UKAS accreditation of the Corporate Auditor programme recognizes that this new programme reflects the rigorous requirements for independent and valid examination of competence as set out in the international standard ISO/IEC 17024. As part of the global conformity assessment infrastructure, we are committed to improving the value of audit through the greater competence of auditors, and UKAS accreditation of this programme is a key element in that endeavour.’
The examination of competence for the Corporate Auditor is delivered through an intensive one-day Assessment Centre that tests candidates’ ability to apply knowledge, skill and attributes to achieve the performance levels and audit outputs required at the Corporate Auditor level. This approach fits with the general move to the competence approach that is at the heart of the latest ISO standards, including ISO 17024 and the new ISO 17021, Requirements for bodies providing audit and certification of management systems, to which IRCA has been contributing actively over the past few years. Simon Feary states that, ‘in this period of change, IRCA sees its role as one of helping the certification industry to understand the competence approach and to implement it in a way that meets their needs. And although the Corporate Auditor programme is aimed at a relatively small number of very competent systems auditors, our assessment centre approach provides the certification industry with an innovative model that may be adapted to suit the majority of auditing professionals in the near future.’
A sample Corporate Auditor certifiaction card
Find out more about the Corporate Auditor programme.
Note: UKAS accreditation is restricted to the IRCA Corporate Auditor programme, which is available only in English in UK initially. IRCA plans to make this exciting new product available outside the UK in future.
Find out about UKAS.
21 January 2008