Compliance Audit Preparation Guide | Policies & Reports
A compliance audit is inevitable for most companies, and the consequences of failing one can be severe.
The key to passing with flying colours? Ensuring your policies are not only properly distributed but also acknowledged and understood by every relevant employee.
In this post, we’ll show you how to get audit-ready by tackling one often-overlooked aspect: policy distribution and tracking.
What is a Compliance Audit?
A compliance audit is a check to make sure a company is following the rules. These rules could be laws, regulations, or even the company’s own policies. During the audit, someone reviews the company’s processes, records, and actions to see if everything is being done correctly.
If something isn’t right, the audit will point it out and suggest ways to fix it. The goal is to help the company avoid problems like fines or penalties and ensure it’s running smoothly and legally.
But don’t worry – this article will help you prepare for your next compliance audit by focussing on a critical aspect: policies. You’ll learn practical steps to ensure your policies are distributed correctly, read, understood and tracked for auditing.
#1 Policy Distribution
The first step in being audit-ready is making sure your policies are seen by those who need to see them.
Policies aren’t effective if they’re sitting unread in a shared drive or lost in an inbox. To pass a compliance audit, you must demonstrate that all necessary employees—regardless of their role or location—have received the appropriate documentation.
Choose the right platform
Whether that’s email, intranet or a dedicated software to ensure employees can access information easily.
Segment your audience
Not all policies apply to everyone. Ensure policies are only sent to the employees who need to see them, based on department, role or location. This keeps things relevant and helps with engagement.
Request Acknowledgement
Include a clear way for employees to confirm they’ve read and understood the policy, whether it’s a digital signature, a checkbox or an acknowledgement form.
#2 Policy Engagement
It’s not enough for employees to simply receive policies—you need to be able to prove they’ve read and understood them. Auditors will often request evidence that staff members have acknowledged the policies they are expected to follow.
Obtaining acknowledgement
There are many ways you can gather data, each will depend on what fits your business and workflows. For example, you could send each form with a signature request, add a checkbox, send online forms or use a dedicated policy acknowledgement platform.
Comprehension questions
In addition to a simple acknowledgement or signature, you may want to test understanding of the information you’ve given them. This is great for business information which is critical.
#3 Reporting: Staying Audit Ready
To truly be prepared for a compliance audit, reporting must be part of your strategy.
You need a clear record of which policies were distributed, to whom, and when. More importantly, you need to show who has acknowledged the documents.
Establish reporting criteria
Define what information is essential for your report. This may include a list of policies, the number of employees who acknowledged each and when.
Collate data
If you’re not using a policy acknowledgment platform, you’ll need to collate the data. For example, this may involve pulling information from your HR system, reviewing individual records of policy acknowledgement and verifying data is up to date.
Use reporting tools
Reporting tools can provide instant access to data, showing exactly who has engaged with which policies and when. Having a detailed audit trail like this means you can quickly produce reports for various different queries at a moments notice.
#4 Staff Engagement: Reminders
Even the most comprehensive policy distribution plan can fall short if employees don’t complete their acknowledgements.
Some will need reminders, and others may need follow-up communications to ensure they’ve read and understood important documents.
Email reminders
Send periodic emails that clearly outline the policies needing acknowledgment. Include a direct link to the documents for easy access and set deadlines.
Internal platforms
Use your companies intranet or internal communication platform to post announcements or issue reminders about policy acknowledgment.
Meetings
Incorporate policy acknowledgment reminders into regular team meetings. This can be a brief agenda item, ensuring everyone is aware and has the opportunity to ask questions.
By sending timely reminders, you can promote accountability and reduce the risk of non-compliance, ensuring your company is prepared for any compliance audit.
#5 Collation: Keep data Central
One of the biggest challenges in preparing for a compliance audit is gathering all the necessary documents in one place.
If your policies, acknowledgements, and signatures are scattered across different systems, you’ll waste time trying to locate everything.
Policy acknowledgment software
Use a digital platform for the distribution, acknowledgement and tracking of policies. This keeps all of your data in one place and ensures you remain audit ready.
Why Compliance Audit Preparation matters
A compliance audit can be stressful, but preparation is key.
Ensuring your policies are distributed to the right people, tracking acknowledgements, and maintaining a clear audit trail are all crucial steps to passing.
With the right tools in place, you can demonstrate compliance confidently, reducing the risk of penalties and protecting your organisation’s reputation.
To make compliance easier, check out Read & Sign and see how we can help streamline your policy management and acknowledgement process.
Ready for your next compliance Audit?
Start preparing today by ensuring your policies are not only seen but acknowledged and understood. Get ahead of the game with Read & Sign.
