Preparing for Internal and External Audits
Being ready before they knock on the door
Preparing for an audit, whether internal or carried out by an external certification body, consists of ensuring that compliance evidence is organized, up to date and accessible before the review begins, instead of hastily generating it when the auditor requests it. A continuous compliance program makes this preparation much easier because evidence is collected constantly as part of normal operations, and not as a one-off exercise before the audit that usually produces inconsistent or outdated documentation. In practice, it's worth carrying out simulated internal audits or pre-audits well in advance, reviewing the same points the external auditor will assess, to detect and fix gaps while there's still room to maneuver. This also includes preparing the owners of each process for interviews, ensuring they can explain their controls as consistently as the documentation shows.