People typically associate auditors with numbers and figures. When thinking of auditors, their mind may conjure an image of an introverted type solitarily hunched over spreadsheets and a calculator. Whether this has ever been an accurate representation of an auditor or merely a stereotype is debatable, but what is certain today is that an auditor cannot hope to thrive in their profession without a level of sociability; the ability to interact with peers and affect successful communication. (Hunching is also not recommended).
Additionally, there are some auditing roles that decidedly shirk the traditional auditor archetype. If a less stringent audit career appeals to you, you may wish to consider these alternative audit jobs.
Clinical auditing involves reviewing a country’s healthcare system. It is professionally defined as a quality improvement process that aims to bring enhancement to the patient care sector. Quality of care goes through a systematic review by an auditor whereby specific criteria are applied, conclusions are drawn, and recommendations are made.
Clinical auditing is formally incorporated within the healthcare systems of many nations, including in the UK with the NHS (National Health Service). The purpose of clinical auditing is to ensure that governance procedures are being properly adhered to and to ascertain what is not working and why. In order to establish better systems, clinical auditors provide an improved framework for carers to execute.
The role of a clinical auditor falls directly under the Clinical Governance umbrella and dictates an organisations’ accountability concerning the continuous improvement of the quality of services offered. Clinical auditors are also responsible for research and development, risk management, education, and training.
Performance auditing is linked to the auditing of procedures within the private and government sectors. The aim is to ensure effectiveness and efficiency in using available resources. The process of performance auditing follows a systematic and objective approach using structured methodologies.
Performance audits of government activities are usually carried out by external or consultant auditors or those professionals provided by audit bodies at state or federal level. These governing bodies follow an established conducting performance guide. The scope of the audit includes the organisation’s waste, and detecting fiscal abuse and fraud.
Quality audit, as the name suggests, is a systematic examination conducted by either an external or internal quality auditor to ensure the eminence of processes being used within an organisation. This is a crucial part of ensuring a company’s management system is effective. This is also an important factor in the ISO quality system standard.
Quality audits are conducted at specific time intervals to make sure that an organisation has clearly-defined system monitoring procedures that can be linked to effective actions being executed. This helps the auditors determine if organisations comply with the governance processes using result-based assessment criteria.
Quality audits do not just focus on identifying non-conformances and identifying the best corrective actions but also highlight areas of good practice, so as to identify the areas where improvement is needed but also to help figure out processes that need doing continuously. Quality audits are used in higher education systems in countries including Sweden, Finland, Australia, and New Zealand.
A career as an auditor can be highly rewarding. Gratifying salaries combined with clear career progression and untold opportunity for international expansion are highly sought after elements in anyone’s career, yet many people can be repelled by the mundane stereotype that plagues the audit profession. Today, as an auditor, creativity is encouraged and being spirited can be advantageous, so expand your audit horizons and consider a role a little out of the box. (Calculators may still be involved).