Audit Reporting, Follow-Up, and Strategies for Continual Improvement

In the previous chapter, we discussed the audit process, which involves steps such as initiating, preparing, and conducting the audit, reporting, completing the audit, and conducting a follow-up. The previous chapter explained the first three steps, and we will look at the remaining steps in this chapter. The closing meeting is the last activity of the steps in the audit process.

Following the closing meeting, a written record is created to deliver information in a formal manner, making it easy to follow up on the information. The process owner will obtain a higher value from the audit, which will enable changes to be made to the process. This will be accomplished by identifying not only the nonconforming parts of the process but also the good aspects and prospective improvement areas.

The step of following up is an essential component of the audit process, much like many other aspects of the ISO 27001 standard...