Brink's Modern Internal Auditing

CHAPTER 31 Quality Assurance Auditing and ASQ Standards

While A MAJOR focus of this book has been on IIA international internal audit standards and Certified Internal Auditor (CIA) requirements, as well as the roles of Certified Public Accountant (CPA)–type external auditors in internal audit engagements, these are not the only professionals today who consider themselves auditors. There are many other audit professionals, including U.S. federal government contract auditors and the professionals who audit health care and hospital standards. These other auditors typically do not work in or with the corporate headquarters offices that are the domains of IIA-associated internal auditors or even the CPA-type external auditors. While the IIA-member or IIA-heritage internal audit professional discussed throughout this book often does not have a strong working relationship with them, quality auditors play an important role in many enterprises. Administered through the American Society for Quality (ASQ) professional organization, they are a unique internal audit practice–like professional group that has its own standards, codes of ethics, and professional certification designations. Once called quality auditors rather than just internal auditors, these professionals have responsibilities to review a wide range of International Organization for Standardization (ISO) standards-compliance, work-simplification, and quality-related processes in the enterprise. Quality auditors have historically ...