Nick’s Niche: The ins and outs of operational audits
When someone tells you you’re about to be audited, the first thing that goes through your mind is that the IRS must have caught that mistake you made on your tax return. Maybe it wasn’t such a good idea to declare your cat as a dependent after all. But not all audits are bad things. If operational audits are performed by competent persons in a comprehensive fashion, they can root out areas where you can improve your process and become more profitable and efficient.
Twenty plus years ago when I started my business, operational audits were unheard of in the powder coating industry. We were the first company to use the term and offer the service in this industry (and maybe the entire finishing industry). The concept of auditing a production process was foreign to most business owners, although they understood that such a service could be beneficial if they truly realized productivity and efficiency gains.