We celebrate World Quality Day 2020 today. As the world and customers’ expectations are rapidly changing; it is more important than ever for audit organizations to be close to their audit-customers and understand what value they seek.
Auditing has significantly improved over the last decades. The bar has been raised in several areas, including the standards, the auditors’ competence, the standardization of audit processes, and the risk-based approach taken, to name a few. Audits play and will continue to play a critical role in providing trust and highlighting areas for improvement. If companies did not have an independent assessment regularly, trust around the business would be lower, so would be the potential for continuous improvement.
Audit organizations need to continue to listen to their customers to remain relevant and uncover the directions they need to take in the future. Audit-customers expect more than a yes or a no as the outcome of an audit. They wish detailed information on their system’s robustness and actionable findings. Audit professionals should always put the audit customer at the heart of what they do. Let’s recognize that customer-focused audit organizations innovate and improve their processes to create value. They collaborate and share with their customers. It is part of their culture and helps them to be and remain valued partners for success. Being customer-focused allows auditing to create more value. Today is the day to reflect on it. Happy World Quality Day !
By Marc Cwikowski
November 12, 2020
