{"id":5471,"date":"2016-07-04T22:50:20","date_gmt":"2016-07-04T22:50:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/multiacademstg.wpengine.com\/14001academy\/?p=5471"},"modified":"2025-04-04T09:52:42","modified_gmt":"2025-04-04T09:52:42","slug":"what-competences-should-an-iso-14001-internal-auditor-have","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/staging.advisera.com\/14001academy\/blog\/2016\/07\/04\/what-competences-should-an-iso-14001-internal-auditor-have\/","title":{"rendered":"What competences should an ISO 14001 internal auditor have?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The internal audit is one of the key functions for maintaining excellence within an EMS, so what attributes does the internal auditor need to have?<\/p>\n<p>If you have an EMS (Environmental Management System) that is <a href=\"https:\/\/staging.advisera.com\/14001academy\/what-is-iso-14001\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">ISO 14001<\/a>\u00a0certified, then you will understand the importance of the internal audit function in both getting the\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/staging.advisera.com\/14001academy\/iso-14001-documentation-toolkit\/?rel=policy-and-manual&amp;doc=environmental-manual\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">EMS<\/a>\u00a0ready for audit, and maintaining the standards of performance after the audit itself. As one of the key functions within the EMS, the internal audit can identify gaps in performance or process as well as non-compliance to legislation and the standard itself. Given this, the effectiveness of the internal audit itself can often depend on the expertise, knowledge, and eye for detail of the person appointed to conduct the <a href=\"https:\/\/staging.advisera.com\/14001academy\/iso-14001-documentation-toolkit\/?rel=internal-audit&amp;doc=procedure-for-internal-audit\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">audit<\/a>\u00a0itself. Placing this importance on one person\u2019s expertise is quite a serious decision, so what attributes should the\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/staging.advisera.com\/14001academy\/knowledgebase\/iso-14001-2015-revision\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">ISO 14001<\/a> system internal auditor possess?<\/p>\n<h2><strong>Internal auditor: Skills, competencies, qualifications?<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>There are many skills, competencies, and qualifications that can help a person become an internal auditor, and it is a commonly held belief in the business community that a combination of all three can help an auditor become effective. Let\u2019s look at some of the desirable attributes separately:<br \/>\n<div id=\"middle-banner\" class=\"banner-shortcode\"><\/div><script>loadMiddleBanner();<\/script><br \/>\n<div id=\"side-banner-trigger\" class=\"banner-shortcode\"><\/div><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Formal training:<\/strong> Whether provided externally or internally, formal auditor training can assist in giving your auditor a foundation for becoming an effective internal auditor. There are many\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/staging.advisera.com\/14001academy\/iso-14001-documentation-toolkit\/?rel=training-amp-awareness&amp;doc=training-record\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">training<\/a>\u00a0options available, but it pays to research your training provider to ensure the standard of training provided is of an acceptable standard in your industry. You can undertake a free <a href=\"https:\/\/staging.advisera.com\/training\/iso-14001-internal-auditor-course\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">ISO 14001 Internal Auditor training course<\/a>, which will give you an excellent foundation to build your skills.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Education<\/strong>: Though not considered mandatory for a position like this, people with qualifications in some disciplines may prove more effective auditors than others \u2013 think accountants, financial planners, or warehouse managers, for example \u2013 the disciplines and education gained to attain these jobs may be more conducive to auditing skills than others.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Competencies<\/strong>: Employees with certain skills again may be more effective auditors than others. People who perform stock counts or design complex products may have a superior eye for detail than individuals who work in more creative fields, for example. It may pay to consider this particular personality trait when considering a candidate for internal audit training.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Personality<\/strong>: As indicated above, certain people may have better personalities than others for this task. As well as attention to detail, it pays to have an internal auditor who is curious and questions things. The auditor also needs to be personable and an effective communicator, too, as this function will undoubtedly require a great deal of contact with other employees and EMS stakeholders.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Related Knowledge<\/strong>: Obviously, having knowledge of the ISO 14001 standard is vital to the internal audit function in terms of ensuring your EMS meets all your legislative and standard compliances. Also, the internal auditor will be very much more effective at this element if he\/she had knowledge of the internal process, and all related inputs and outputs. Our article <a href=\"https:\/\/staging.advisera.com\/14001academy\/blog\/2014\/11\/26\/iso-14001-competence-training-awareness-important-ems\/\">ISO 14001 Competence, Training and Awareness: Why are they important for your EMS?<\/a>\u00a0can assist you with achieving this.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Experience<\/strong>: It stands to reason that experience with the internal audit function, company processes in general, and similar elements in previous roles can help the auditor be efficient. An experienced employee will tend to have an edge over a new employee when analyzing the critical issues for examination at internal audit.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>So, now that we recognize the attributes desirable for our internal auditor candidate, is there anything else we need to consider?<\/p>\n<h2><strong>Internal audit success: The practicalities<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>The practicalities are that if your auditor has a combination of the above attributes, then there is no reason why your\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/staging.advisera.com\/14001academy\/iso-14001-documentation-toolkit\/?rel=internal-audit&amp;doc=internal-audit-report\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">internal audit<\/a>\u00a0process cannot benefit. A combination of knowledge of the ISO 14001:2015 internal process knowledge and attention to detail remain the primary attributes to ensure your internal audit process is effective. However, it may be an idea to get together with top management and decide on an\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/staging.advisera.com\/14001academy\/iso-14001-documentation-toolkit\/?rel=internal-audit&amp;doc=internal-audit-checklist\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">internal audit checklist<\/a>\u00a0in order that some collective control is retained over the internal audit process. You can get assistance on this topic by reading the article <a href=\"https:\/\/staging.advisera.com\/14001academy\/blog\/2016\/06\/27\/how-to-make-an-iso-14001-internal-audit-checklist\/\">How to make an ISO 14001 internal audit checklist<\/a>,\u00a0but whether you use a checklist or not, having the correct auditor with the correct skills is vital. Select and train the internal auditor correctly, select the correct topics to audit, and your certification and surveillance audits should be easier as a result.<\/p>\n<p><em>Why not try our free<\/em> \u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/staging.advisera.com\/training\/iso-14001-internal-auditor-course\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">ISO 14001:2015 Internal Auditor Course<\/a> <em>to improve your knowledge of the ISO 14001 internal audit<\/em>?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The internal audit is one of the key functions for maintaining excellence within an EMS, so what attributes does the internal auditor need to have? If you have an EMS (Environmental Management System) that is ISO 14001\u00a0certified, then you will understand the importance of the internal audit function in both getting the\u00a0EMS\u00a0ready for audit, and &#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":29,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[126,76,301,60,61,115],"class_list":["post-5471","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blog","tag-compliance","tag-ems","tag-internal-auditor","tag-iso-14001","tag-legislation","tag-training"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.advisera.com\/14001academy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5471","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.advisera.com\/14001academy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.advisera.com\/14001academy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.advisera.com\/14001academy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/29"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.advisera.com\/14001academy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5471"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/staging.advisera.com\/14001academy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5471\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":32986,"href":"https:\/\/staging.advisera.com\/14001academy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5471\/revisions\/32986"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.advisera.com\/14001academy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5471"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.advisera.com\/14001academy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5471"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.advisera.com\/14001academy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5471"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}