Advice on Outsourcing the Internal Audit Program

After doing so for a year and a half, I am finally ready to give up on handling internal audit requirements in-house. It's like pulling teeth to get staff from other departments to take part and QA can't audit QA activities. To cover all the procedures that affect BRC certification, the internal audit program is extremely time consuming, especially when you consider all the follow-up activity. Does anyone know of companies in the USA, perferably NE, who could perform this function for me?

I'm afraid my budget doesn't allow me to travel that far... otherwise i would be delighted

I'm afraid my budget doesn't allow me to travel that far... otherwise i would be delighted

Vacation to the states?

I don't have an answer for your issue but can totally sympathize. Same issues here...pulling teeth is the best way to describe what I experience and I have to believe that many companies face the same thing. Internal auditing seems like a full time job and small to medium sized companies don't have the resources or manpower to get them done properly. The more we dig into BRC and go after certification in December ( after 18 months of preparation), I continue to wonder, "how do companies do this?" and in the big picture is all this attention to minutia really improve food safety? I hardly ever see posts like this on this forum and I can't believe I am the only one who thinks like this. I know our companies food safety was better in tune when my attention was on less items, that I could maintain, rather than on so many details and mountains of paperwork. Ok, there's my rant.

This is a recurring issue, particularly with small to medium sized food businesses where there is not the manpower to find "independent" auditors within the Company. In my last job I was fortunate to work in a large industrial estate with a number of other food businesses in a similar position. We organised a half day a week with another company where I would audit their systems and their quality manager would return the favour (we were both trained to a competent level). It wasn't an ideal situation (it was a day out of the month spent auditing / being audited and another day closing out non-conformances), but it kept costs down as low as possible and was a good learning experience for me also to see how other people problem solved. I've had to hire an independent where I am now though as I'm more isolated, but the advantage for me is that it's only half a day as they kindly close out any non-conformances they raise as they appreciate and celebrate my anger management issues.
As for your point Bill, I have, in the past, scraped my ass through BRC audits with the most pathetic box ticking exerceises in internal auditing. I'm talking one page with "everything fine" and a signature. It's one of those "keeping the auditor onside" clauses. If the auditor does not find anything horrendous in the systems, they are likely to accapt half-assed internal auditing. On the other hand, if they are finding 2/3 non-conformances per section, they will go to town on you for not reviewing your systems in the correct manner no matter how many folders of rubbish you produce on audit day. But I do agree with your point, and as the old Swedish saying goes, it is an awful lot of trouble for such a small amount of wool said the woman as she shaved the pig.

I don't have an answer for your issue but can totally sympathize. Same issues here...pulling teeth is the best way to describe what I experience and I have to believe that many companies face the same thing. Internal auditing seems like a full time job and small to medium sized companies don't have the resources or manpower to get them done properly. The more we dig into BRC and go after certification in December ( after 18 months of preparation), I continue to wonder, "how do companies do this?" and in the big picture is all this attention to minutia really improve food safety? I hardly ever see posts like this on this forum and I can't believe I am the only one who thinks like this. I know our companies food safety was better in tune when my attention was on less items, that I could maintain, rather than on so many details and mountains of paperwork. Ok, there's my rant.

Exactly. My company has had BRC certification (grade A) for a year and a half and I have to admit, there is no change to the product we are putting out, just a whole lot of paperwork to back it up. So far, the only real benefit is that we can still sell to a couple of our large customers who insist we have the certification.

agree with all the above - BRC is more of a tool to keep customers/retailers happy, but in the end the driver to sell more product is still price related. Then an A-grade BRC certification is playing no role.