The company audit is to be considered today an indispensable tool for improving one company's business activity.

More precisely, it is an operation of business process control, aimed at verifying the compliance of a company's products, processes, programs and of its business organization with corresponding regulations and certification standards.

Regulated by UNI EN ISO 9001, the audit involves the entire system of objectives and procedures necessary for the continuous and constant improvement of the company; in fact, audits make it possible to identify any critical issues, proposing consequent solutions. The ISO 9001 standard is the best known quality standard all over the world today, in order to comply with legal obligations and obtain quality certification.

The audit is therefore a tool that serves to understand whether the procedures required by law are respected in the various areas and activities of a "company system" and if the company objectives and policies are carried out and pursued.

Company audits can, compatibly with the company reality and internal processes, take place for various reasons (regulatory compliance, optimization of a specific company process and supplementary questions). Each of them has 3 stages for completion:

  • identification of areas to be analysed, of the tools to be used and planning of data collection activities;
  • examination of documents and verification of company protocols;
  • evaluation with respect to the audit parameters and the results obtained. Eventual elaboration of the improvement plan.

How is the company audit carried out? 

The company audit must be well organized.

To have concrete knowledge of the company organization, the auditor must develop an adequate analysis procedure.

The three main steps of operations are those described above, upon which the auditor may find two results:

  • Non-compliance, with subsequent indication of critical point;
  • Observations to make improvements.

Once the auditing process is completed, the auditor is required to draw up a written report indicating the result obtained and specifying the improvements to be made to business processes in order to improve the system.

What are the phases of the company audit? 

The five phases of the company audit, in compliance with ISO 9001 standard, are as follows:

  • Planning of the verification program, with indication of the frequency of the verifications;
  • Planning of the process verification, which represents a mere confirmation of the date on which the control will be carried out;
  • Execution of the verification, useful for collecting evidence about the functioning and effectiveness of the process in producing the required results;
  • Report on the verification, which allows the company owner to know the areas of weakness, those to be improved and also those of success;
  • Follow Up of problems or improvements. Once the problem has been verified and corrective actions have been taken, it is ensured that the problem has actually been solved.

In light of all of the above, it can be concluded with the easy deduction that company audit when used correctly is one of the major contributions to improve the internal processes of companies.

Company audit: What can we do for you? 

The Arnone & Sicomo International Law Firm, with its team of professionals, makes available to its customers, both Italian and foreign, the experience gained over the years in concrete business assistance, offering a professional, highly qualified assistance service to carry out the monitoring and verification of the best business solutions to be adopted through the company audit.

Today, the construction of an adequate business management system through company audit and review is essential for companies that have to face the problem of risk management and adapt to national and international regulations.

A multidisciplinary team of lawyers and technical consultants is ideal for those companies that require a complete 360 ° business analysis. We work side by side with the top management to ensure a control and verification service of the company's procedural systems that are optimal and compliant with national, Italian and international legislations.

The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.