Internal Auditing: Your course, your way!

Our Internal Auditing courses are split by level to make sure you get the most out of your course. Explore this handy blog on how to choose your internal auditing course. Find out the different options we have and ensure delegates have the best experience.

1. Who are you training?

New to Auditing?

Have you got a group of new auditors who only want to do basic onsite audits? Our Level 2 Internal Auditing course is perfect for them!  This course is most suitable for those starting out on their auditing journey or those who will be doing more compliance or GMP-style audits. Our Level 2 Internal Auditing course is a 1-day course, only held as an in-house course, for up to 12 delegates.

Some experience in Auditing…

If your delegates have some experience in auditing but would benefit from more in-depth knowledge or would like a recognised qualification in Auditing, then our Level 3 Internal Auditing course is perfect for them.  This level of course would suit delegates who are doing full systems-style audits. This 2-day course is available as an in-house course for up to 12 delegates.

2. Choose a delivery method

We have two options for delivering the training:

Face to Face:

We can come to your site and train in a traditional face-to-face format. You will need a training room big enough for all your delegates.  We will provide hard-copy workbooks and textbooks for each delegate. The trainer will accompany delegates on the practical exercise and also do the invigilation for any assessments.

Live Online

If you have delegates who are working from home or are on multiple sites, then Live Online training with a remote tutor is a great way to train your delegates.  We can do this for individuals, groups on-site, or a mixture of both.  It’s essential that the trainer can see and hear everyone, and that the delegates can all see and hear the trainer clearly too. Delegates are still able to take their exams and assessments online as well.  Delegates will be required to download and print their own workbooks prior to the course, and we will post the hard copy textbook prior to the course starting (Level 3 only).  Find out more about Live Online Training here.

3. Choose your auditing practical

We have a couple of options for the practical exercise based on what your site can do:

Factory-Based Practical

The factory practical exercise is our preferred option. It’s a great way to get the delegates to put into practice what they have just learned on the course.  The factory-based practical uses 3 pre-selected (by you) parts of your Quality Management System. We ask you to select these prior to the course and have hard copies ready in the training room at the beginning of the course, also ideally emailing them to us prior to the course so we can share them with the trainer.  It’s also advantageous for us to use your own auditing documents, so delegates get a feel for the forms they’ll be using in the future.

For the Level 2 course, we suggest simple procedures, whereas for the Level 3 course, they can be slightly more challenging.  Also, the Level 2 course is a short practical, around 40 minutes, whereas the Level 3 Internal Auditing course takes all morning of Day 2.

You can do this practical if you are having Face-to-Face or Live Online delivery, however, for the Live Online option you must make sure that there is someone available to show the delegates around (ideally an experienced auditor) as the trainer can’t accompany them.  We wouldn’t be able to do this type of practical for delegates who are attending Live Online away from site, if this is the case, then we’d automatically select the ‘classroom-based practical’.

Classroom-Based Practical

The classroom-based practical uses some pre-written scenarios for delegates to experience being the auditor and the auditee.  We use up to 3 different scenarios within the allotted time, depending on the time taken.  Each delegate will get a chance to be both auditor and auditee.

The classroom-based practical is ideal if you have a Live Online course with remote delegates, no access to a factory, or restrictions on visitors.  We can also use this option for the Face-to-Face course if preferred.

4. Choose an assessment method

You can choose to do your assessment online or on paper for both courses, however, some courses would automatically be a paper exam, have a look below:

Paper-based Assessment

The Level 2 Internal Auditing course has a competency test at the end of the course and can be a paper-based assessment.  We’d usually suggest this on a face-to-face course or live online for those who don’t have access to an individual computer or smartphone to complete the assessment online.

The Level 3 Internal Auditing course has a regulated exam ‘Principles of Effective Auditing and Inspection Skills’ from Highfield (HABC). It is a paper-based exam for a Face-to-Face course which allows all delegates in the training room to be invigilated as a group.  For Live Online, if your delegates are in a group onsite and if you can provide an appropriate invigilator, we can send paper exams directly to the nominated onsite invigilator.  Just don’t forget to hand out the pencils, and erasers and get delegates to remember their photo ID!

Online Assessments

The Level 2 Internal Auditing competency assessment can be done through our LMS platform ‘Achieve’ if:

• they are taking their via Live Online individually
• they have access to smartphones or laptops for Face-to-Face courses.

This will give them an immediate mark and certificate on successful completion.

The Level 3 Internal Auditing exam can be done online through HABC‘s Remote Invigilation service via ProctorExam if:

• delegates are taking the course individually (e.g. working from home or in a room on-site)

This does need some specific hardware and software to ensure they can do the exam.

You will need

• a laptop or desktop with a web camera (not a tablet)
• Google Chrome or Edge web browser with plugins enabled to access your web camera
• a smartphone with app access and a front-facing camera
• a room to yourself without distractions
• a good WIFI connection
• photo ID.

5. Get in touch with us for some dates

Now you have all the information on how to choose your internal auditing course, please contact us for dates. Please tell us your preferred delivery method, practical exercise, and assessment method preferences.

We appreciate there’s quite a bit to get your head around, so please contact us if you have any queries.