Performing audits on your business is one of the best ways to ensure compliance with policies and procedures. But between travel expenses, reduced productivity, miscommunication with vendors, and remote location employees, the traditional method of auditing is often costly, time consuming, and cumbersome.
eAuditing offers a superior solution to traditional in person audits. It cuts costs, increases efficiency, and ultimately allows for more accurate and timely audits.
What Is an eAudit and What Are Its Benefits?
eAuditing uses software to perform checks on records saved electronically. It gives managers the ability to audit multiple locations simultaneously by collecting objective evidence from remote sites and transmits the data to managers electronically. This means audits can be performed more frequently, while freeing up employee time for other tasks.
eAuditing provides multiple outcomes that traditional “boots on the ground” auditing can not. Because an auditor need not visit a remote location, travel costs associated with performing audits are drastically reduced. Additionally, the time which would otherwise be spent travelling is freed up, increasing productivity and morale across the board.
But the human resource benefits eAuditing provides are just the tip of the iceberg. In traditional auditing practices, auditors base their conclusions on an analysis of a limited sampling of a location’s records. It simply isn’t feasible to have an employee comb through thousands of pages (or more) of records for evidence. But a computer can easily perform such a task. By looking at an entire data set rather than just a sampling, a more accurate picture of a location’s compliance can be formed.
Finally, because eAuditing can be performed remotely and at multiple locations simultaneously, businesses can ensure that audits are performed in a timely manner, whether they’re for a supplier or internal use. Audits can be performed more frequently, leading to an increase in efficiency; small problems can be spotted before they grow into large problems, and logistical considerations, such as inventory shipments can be better tuned to reduce costs.
The audit method matters! With added benefits, increased productivity, and lower costs the decision to switch to eAuditing is a no brainer. If you’re looking to introduce an eAuditing system to your business, be sure to check out our seminar “Getting Started with eAudits!”
