Discover how internal audits enhance compliance and quality in organizations. Learn about their advantages, processes, and the impact they have on the life sciences industry.
That being said, we want to draw our attention to the consequential effect of internal audits in this article and their role in ensuring the success of your organization.
These objectives can be attained successfully if, firms tend to have a powerful weapon by their side like internal audits. This article will focus on the importance of internal audits and how they make up an important pillar for compliance and quality assurance.
Defining Internal Audits
Internal audit is a systematic, independent assessment activity within an organization that evaluates whether the organisation is complying with rules and regulations.
Internal audits — These are performed by internal auditors who do not have primary responsibility in the areas being reviewed. The main objective of internal audits is to find improvement points where there could be default in compliances and perfection in quality outputs.
Advantages of Internal Audits
1. Better Compliance: Without a doubt, internal audits are performed to evaluate the extent of compliance with laws and regulations.
By identifying compliance deficiencies in advance of an external audit or a regulation inspection, you can be proactive in fixing problems and preventing enforcement actions.
2. Quality Assurance -The life science industry is all about quality. An internal audit provides a way to evaluate and improve the quality of your products, services, and processes.
Finding and correcting these quality issues in-house gives assurance that you’re reducing the risk of product recalls or customer complaints.
3. Risk Mitigation: Internal audits enable you to bring into the limelight possible risks and susceptibilities, which can be accomplished within your organization.
Actively tackling these risks will help prevent potential mishaps or non-conformities that could affect your business adversely and tarnish its reputation.
4. Process Improvement: Internal audits are not just about detecting faults, they can also help identify areas for improvement.
You can save costs and improve operational excellence by optimizing workflows and streamlining processes.
The Internal Audit Process
1. Plan Step 1: Define the internal audit scope and objective. State the particular areas or processes you plan to evaluate.
2. Execution: Audit as planned — follow the defined audit processes and a checklist. Require independent and well-educated auditors.
3. Report: Capture results — including non-conformances and opportunities for improvement. Suggest Corrective and Preventive Actions (CAPAs).
4. Follow-up: Keep track of the implementations of CAPAs and confirm the resolution of issues. This step it is key to keep improving.
Conclusion
Such comprehensive internal audits are a useful way of improving compliance and quality within your company. By performing strategic evaluations, analyzing key weaknesses and taking a proactive approach towards achieving compliance and quality standards, you can further strengthen the credibility of your organization within in the life science marketplace.
We work with life science companies, helping them to execute successful internal audits and uphold regulatory standards through effective controls designed around quality.
To find out how we can help your organization reach its goals, get in touch with BioBoston Consulting today or visit our website.