Imagine a clear audit trail readily available at your fingertips. No more waiting for audits to find out that you are off-side and at risk.

This is not unlike how audit-correction cycles work. However, what many don't consider is: The more often things change, the higher the frequency of audits Let’s assume you audit conformance to prescribed controls once every year. That’s why audits are often too slow and too late to protect value creation. Never mind that audits seldom evaluate effectiveness against targeted compliance goals and outcomes.

Improving the level of confidence is therefore an important objective which often involves conducting audits Measuring effectiveness of these capabilities is not something that traditional audit or assurance functions

Compliance because I believed there had to be a better way than reactive box-checking and last-minute audit Not just effective at passing audits and inspections, as important as that is. Not just once or right before an audit, but all the time. But here's the thing: they wanted this not primarily to pass audits and inspections. Doubling down on audits or doing them faster was never going to be enough.

regulated industry, you know this frustration: Your organization has procedures, training records, audit You pass audits. Your management systems are certified. But violations still surprise you. approaches break obligations into disconnected parts—separate procedures, isolated training, independent audits commitments at every organizational level Continuous assurance:  Real-time visibility, not periodic audits You move from hoping between audits to knowing in real-time how obligations are being fulfilled.

They use multiple frameworks, standards, and certification regimes - each with their own audit processes But it requires taking a stand that may make life harder for auditors. Auditors often want to see compliance done their way, according to their specific methods. decide - are they willing to optimize for compliance effectiveness, even if it means a more challenging audit There are better approaches that integrate multiple compliance needs, but they require rethinking audit

It is whether the program is built to deliver outcomes or built to create reports and pass audits. Document control, internal audits, management reviews. ❤️ C1 — Finance (integrity, anti-money-laundering

ISO standards help you pass audits, but the Operational Compliance Model helps you achieve the outcomes those audits are supposed to ensure—better safety, security, sustainability, quality, and stakeholder COSO is excellent for internal control over financial reporting  but was designed primarily for audit "What about Audit 3 Lines of Defence?" separate from their real work Line 2  (risk/compliance) monitors rather than enables performance Line 3  (audit

In my previous blog , I discussed four misuses of audits that result from a reactive approach. benefits from being directly embedded into each process rather than only by means of inspections or audits Embedding will enable the level compliance to be known at all times rather than after an audit. Many are already spending excessive effort conducting pre-audits, internal audits, and third-party audits Why wait for an audit when you can experience the benefits of being in compliance right now?

certified management systems like ISO 27001, SOC 2, and PCI DSS—with technology platforms designed for audit safety, security, sustainability, privacy, quality, ethical, and regulatory outcomes—not just support audits

If you're ready to move beyond audit check-boxes and embrace the power of probabilistic thinking, this Assurance As a compliance engineer with over 30 years in the field, I've seen how limited single-point, audit-based Beyond Single Points with Bayes Despite these uses of probability, most programs still rely on periodic audits and risk-based assessments into a unified view Update assurance continuously rather than waiting for audit

Evidence of these processes is demonstrated by audits conducted by internal functions which may include The primary mechanism by which this is done is through the audit function. In fact, for many companies, the words compliance audit, and even GRC are used interchangeably. Unfortunately, when compliance only has an audit “hammer” everything looks like a nail which increases the tendency to "double down" on audits.