The Stayingpower of Process Improvement

PROCESS IMPROVEMENT

Laurence K. Maguire

Process mprovement

Auditors can use their insight and attention to detail to help the organization find ways to operate p

offOf^ti\/oi\/ ^^^1 nternal auditors and improving processes in ingly are focusing on other professionals increastheir organizations. Indeed, the growing process improvement literature emphasizes the concept of "continuous improvement" because there seemingly are endless opportunities to make processes better. Process improvement introduces change, and that change may come out of a wide variety of qualit)', compliance, and improvement initiatives. Although some of these programs vary in their approaches, and some result in certifications and opinions being issued, many of their fundamental methodologies are similar. An inquisitive, analytical internal auditor who is anuned to the processes being examined can identify processes that can

The Staying Power of

JUNE 2012

INTERNAL AUDITOR 55

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be improved significantly. These recommendations can come from a variety of audits, including operational, compliance, and risk and control reviews. Moreover, process improvements can be discussed in the same breath as benchmarking, lean engineering, reengineering, or following best practices, METHODOLOGY AND TOOLS The core components of a process improvement methodology are identifying the process to be improved with a focus on performance gaps and disconnects, analyzing the findings for practical solutions to improve its efficiency and effectiveness, and recommending improvements. Auditors often use the inquiry process to gather information, which may provide enough data and input to identify, analyze, and formulate a workable solution for improving a process, A fiowchart is another tool used by auditors. This graphical and symbolic representation of the processing steps can provide a better understanding of processes,...