internal audits

Making your internal audits meaningful not mediocre

The recent renewed focus on the quality of audits performed by the Big 4 accounting and audit firms has put a spotlight on audit outcomes and reporting. While the focus has been on pesky financial audits, there are plenty of subjects that are covered by audits. The topics can be wide-ranging and include audits of …read more »

5 simple steps for great management reviews

written by Maree Stuart The prospect of doing a management review is not exactly a cause for celebration. Unlike birthdays, which also come around annually, management reviews can be dull, life-sucking events that last way too long. But it is possible to turn your management reviews from boring to brilliant! Our 5 simple steps are here …read more »

12 Days of a Lab Christmas – Day 4

written by Maree Stuart As we head into the silly season, we’re delighted to present: The MAS Management Systems 12 Days of a Lab Christmas! On the fourth day of Christmas, we did an internal audit of some new work we wanted to seek accreditation for. How many times have you requested a change to your …read more »

Internal audits – who are you pleasing?

If you’ve been doing internal audits just to tick the ‘yes we did that’ accreditation or certification box, you’re doing your business a huge disservice. Of course, internal audits are necessary for compliance and conformance. But they can also drive real change and add value for your business. As well as determining if the lab …read more »

Does your lab face these 5 ISO/IEC 17025 challenges?

Even the best labs can find themselves floundering a bit when external audit or assessment time rolls around. As consultants and mentors, we’ve visited a LOT of client’s labs over the years. And although each lab faces different challenges, we’ve found that there are a few issues that regularly crop up that can lead to …read more »

Do you REALLY know what’s happening in your lab?

As a lab manager or owner, you have your finger on the pulse of what’s happening in your laboratory. You have your eye on the big picture and introduce improvements to enable your staff to do their jobs and do them well. But what about those nitty-gritty, everyday issues that arise? Would your staff come …read more »

ISO/IEC 17025 – where does your lab get stuck?

While no longer the ‘new’ version of the Standard, when the 2017 version of ISO/IEC 17025 was released there was quite a bit of anxiety about the changes and how they should be implemented. This was particularly the case for NATA accredited labs whose first assessment visits after the standard was implemented were sometimes nerve …read more »

Making your internal audits meaningful not mediocre

Evidence of auditing has been discovered dating from the fourth millennium BC. Scribes in Mesopotamia kept records on clay tablets, some of which showed tiny marks beside the figures. These dots, ticks and circles indicate that checking of the records had been done. While we still use tablets today, generally they’re the electronic kind (if …read more »

Supercharge your systems!

Many organisations have a quality (or environment, or safety) management system. If you’re in one of these organisations, then I bet you’ve sometimes felt like the ‘system’ rules your life, rather than you ruling the system. How did it get to be this way? More importantly, how can you change this? It probably got to …read more »

Resistance is futile: how to ace your internal audit

We all know the feeling when an external assessment is coming up. The scurrying search for documents, the interminable hours of scanning, the crossing of eyes and slurping of teas… But what about internal audits? Your colleagues do these. They’re all on your side so you’re bound to get a free pass on some of …read more »