The importance of internal audit to maintain the efficiency of the integrated management system (on the example of a manufacturing company)

An integrated management system (IMS) is relevant for any organization because it helps the organization effectively address issues such as limited resources, increasing competitiveness, and higher expectations from customers and other stakeholders regardless of the market. IMS helps avoid duplication, reduce common risks, identify conflicting goals, create a formal system from informal processes, and allows the organization to focus on achieving its goals. IMS combines all related business components into one system for easier management. IMS provides more benefits than using separate management systems in parallel. Implementation of an IMS begins with quality design and planning, management commitment, and internal audit. Internal audit is a part of the verification in the Deming cycle (PDCA: “plan-do-check-act”), which means the beginning of IMS creation and planning. The internal audit allows to successfully implement IMS, monitor and evaluate its impact on improving productivity. Therefore, to assess the compliance of IMS with the established requirements, internal audit is used, which, being a type of conformity assessment, in its most general form is the process of obtaining and objectively evaluating audit evidence in order to establish the degree of compliance with the agreed audit criteria. The purpose of the article is to disclose the essence and significance of internal audit of IMS as an effective tool for monitoring and verifying the functioning of the enterprise’s IMS, allowing to identify and control problems. The results of the analysis show that manufacturing enterprises need to pay attention to sections 7 -“Support” and 8 “Operation” of ISO standards.