Most organisations need two kinds of audit: audits of themselves, and audits of the suppliers, employees and assets they depend on. They answer different questions, and they work best together.
Self-assessment
A self-assessment is an audit of your own organisation, carried out by your own team. Use it to:
- prepare for a certification, customer or regulatory audit;
- find gaps before someone else does;
- track improvement over time with a repeatable score.
The risk with self-assessment is optimism. Asking for evidence for key answers keeps it honest.
Third-party audit
A third-party audit is one you run on someone else: a supplier, contractor, or partner. Use it to:
- approve new suppliers before you depend on them;
- monitor existing suppliers each year;
- collect evidence your own customers or regulators expect.
The simplest way to run third-party audits at scale is to send the other party a secure link so they complete the audit and upload evidence themselves, then review the results.
Using both
A good programme uses the same structure for both: the same categories, Yes/No questions, reasons and evidence. That way you hold suppliers to the standard you hold yourself to, and you can compare results across your whole supply chain.
Not sure where to start? Take the free audit readiness check to see where your organisation stands today.