A quality control audit assesses the effectiveness of a company’s quality assurance systems, and can be conducted in-house or by a third party. Auditors examine policies, procedures, and records, and may interview employees. The audit report can highlight areas of success and areas for improvement, and may be made public. Private internal audits are confidential and used to address known quality issues.
A quality control audit examines quality assurance systems to determine if they are effective. This can be done in-house by reference of a company or by a third party agency. In some cases, the findings are made public, as seen with government agencies held accountable to citizens and residents. The outcome of an audit may include violations of varying severity or a net result, with no violations found during the investigation.
Such audits provide an accountability system to ensure that a company or agency meets its stated quality objectives. For a quality control audit to be successful, auditors must have unrestricted access to personnel, records and facilities. Third parties can be particularly good reviewers, as they are neutral, with no interest in the outcome of the investigation. People within a company may have an incentive to return favorable results and may overlook matters that other investigators could look into further.
During a quality control audit, auditors may examine a variety of materials. They can review stated policies and procedures and can compare them to actual performance. This may involve supervising employees responsible for quality control and interviewing people to determine how well they know the procedures and what they would do if quality problems arise. Records can also be reviewed to determine if the company enforces policies consistently and logically.
The material collected during a quality control audit can be collected in a report. This document can compare and contrast stated objectives, policies and procedures with actual field quality control. It could highlight specific issues of interest, as well as areas of quality control that are clearly working effectively. Some audits may include case studies of specific incidents to show how the business screwed up or went wrong. The quality control audit can conclude with recommendations for improving or maintaining robust systems.
Public reports can be examined by anyone who requests them. Agencies with negative audit findings may be required to provide information on action plans to address the issue, documenting their audit response for the benefit of stakeholders. Private internal audits are only popular among authorized personnel. These may include managers, engineers, and others involved in the design and implementation of quality control and quality assurance procedures. They can use confidential audits to address known quality issues as early as possible.
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