Internal Audits - a brief history

A significant sector of available auditor training is based on a frame work which was established years before ISO 9001 publication in 1987, and therefore, before 3rd party (CAB) certification was available. The very first "Lead Auditor" training was developed within a number of the UK's (then) government-owned procurement entities, such as British Gas, CEGB and so on. A professional standard of quality assessment was needed by them to ensure government funds were spent with suppliers who were capable of meeting the procurement quality requirements - or the Prime Minister was asked difficult questions about a lack of business awards in a constituency, by the Member of Parliament representing those suppliers!

With the arrival of ISO 9001 Certification, the first CABs were looking for similar auditor qualifications, so Lead Auditor became the required training for 3rd Party auditors too - mainly since there was nothing else available. Some CABs even started running their own training (against the accreditation rules?) Indeed, I have delivered BSI's and UL's Lead Auditor courses - both rebranded versions of the Excel Partnership courses, which were some of the earliest available (based on the British Gas organization's SQA training).

Then because ISO 9001 required Internal Audits, the auditor training courses simply became a cut-down version of around 2 days, not the Lead Auditor's 4 or 5 days. Same basic stuff, methods, terminology etc. What could go wrong?

35 years later, little has changed and the result is? Organizations get little no benefit from internal audits. Internal auditors get no recognition and, experience shows, become disenfranchised. Meanwhile, 3rd Party Certification auditors see results of the organization's internal audits which are similar to theirs - no problems!

Time for a change!