Internal audit helps management evaluate your RTO’s compliance with regulatory requirements and contractual obligations. These reviews can be used to determine if your processes and systems are being maintained by staff and effective in mitigating risks. The benefits of implementing an internal audit programme include meeting regulatory requirements; monitoring business performance; risk management and system/process improvement. The following information explains the advantages of engaging an RTO consultant to conduct your internal audits.

Independence:

Using RTO consultants to conduct your internal audits provides your RTO with an independent and unbiased view of your compliance status. Internal audit reporting requires the absence of even the suggestion of influence by removing those who have other reporting relationships within the RTO so management can be assured that the information in the audit report is completely independent of the processes that are being audited, as well as free of influences from the auditees. RTO consultants bring at the very least a fresh set of eyes that can swiftly identify non-compliance and opportunities for improvement that someone working in the business might not be able to see from familiarity and prejudice to the way things have always been done.

Experience:

An RTO consultant can prove invaluable as they see issues many other RTOs face in a similar way to what your business would experience so bring those learnings to your organisation. The consultant would have seen and worked through many ways of approaching the same issues in the VET sector. They bring this knowledge to an internal audit and can use it to recommend improvements to obtain better results from your self-assurance system. An experienced consultant will know the challenges or opportunities your RTO is facing. What the consultant brings to the table is the benefit of experience in addressing the types of issues you face.

Trained Professional:

Many RTO consultants are highly qualified and have the required credentials to conduct your internal audits. RTOs may need to seek a consultant from outside the business when there is a lack of expertise internally to conduct internal audits or other self-assurance functions. There are times when the specific capability needed is just not available in your RTO. Consultants provide the skills and experience needed to complete internal audit assignments competently. Bringing in fresh eyes to review your self-assurance system can be refreshing for your business.

Resourcing:

Using RTO consultants for your internal audits can be a cost-effective way of resourcing your self-assurance system. Not all RTOs have the resources to hire full-time audit or compliance staff. Smaller RTOs in particular have an opportunity to improve self-assurance systems when they bring in an outside consultant so they can incorporate insights from experienced experts. This allows small businesses to utilise high calibre resources for the fraction of a price of what it would cost to hire in-house. When time and resources are limited it makes more sense for businesses to use RTO consultants when they need to rather than try to do everything themselves especially those functions that fall outside of their expertise.