The Internal Audit Process as a Tool for the Certification of Management Systems

The rise of international certifications such as ISO in globalized markets is due to a strong need to ensure that all suppliers and customers provide proof of their effectiveness and efficiency, regardless of their geographical location. This manuscript aims to present in a simple way the certification and auditing processes in conjunction with the experience gained by the authors as part of a team of internal auditors and to advise companies seeking to certify various management systems; although it is understood that each company has its own needs, this work is written in a general way to be applied as a basic guide.

It is important to understand that management systems, when adopted by organizations, have several advantages, among them recognition in their market and the satisfaction of the needs of the interested parties. To achieve the certification of such systems, internal audits are an indispensable tool to demonstrate compliance with the corresponding standard to the certifying bodies, besides being a requirement of management systems, they help to detect findings during their implementation that lead to the development and maturity of the systems; considering that the audit team is staff of the organization.

This dissertation summarizes the steps to be followed in the ISO 9000 certification process of any company or institution, emphasizing the internal audit process and its different implications in an organization.