The term Audit has been frequently used incorrectly as it has been considered as an evaluation whose sole purpose is to detect errors and point out failures. Because of this, the phrase "Has Audit" has been taken as a synonym that, in said entity, before the audit was carried out, faults had already been detected.
The concept of auditing is much more than this. It is a critical examination that is carried out in order to evaluate the effectiveness and efficiency of a section, an organism, an entity, etc.
The word audit comes from the Latin auditorius, and from this comes the word auditor, which refers to everyone who has the virtue of hearing.
The audit is a critical but not mechanical examination, which does not imply the pre-existence of failures in the audited entity and which aims to evaluate and improve the effectiveness and efficiency of a section or an organism.
The auditor must ensure the correct use of the extensive resources that the company uses to have an efficient and effective Information System. Of course, in order to carry out an effective audit, the company must be understood in its broadest sense, since a University, a Ministry or a Hospital are as companies as a Public Limited Company or Public Company.
AUDIT OF HUMAN RESOURCES:
Human resources auditing can be defined as the analysis of a company's personnel policies and practices and the evaluation of its current operation, followed by suggestions for improvement. The main purpose of the human resources audit is to show how the program is working, locating practices and conditions that are harmful to the company or that are not justifying its cost, or practices and conditions that must be increased.
The audit is a review and control system to inform management about the efficiency and effectiveness of the program it carries out.
PURPOSE AND TYPES OF AUDIT:
In a general sense, the main objectives that constitute the audit are the control of the function, the analysis of the efficiency of the Systems, the verification of compliance with the General Regulations of the Company in each area and the review of the effective management of material, human and computer resources.
The objective of an audit is not only to point out flaws and problems, but also to present suggestions and solutions. In this sense, the role of the human resources audit is fundamentally educational. Even when the audit is well performed, it enables the sensitivity of administrators to diagnose problems.
Types of Audit:
Internal Audit and External Audit
The Internal Audit:
It is generally practiced by officials or employees of the same company in which it is carried out and is used to correct and improve internal control, setting a course of action to be taken.
The External Audit:
It is the review carried out by an independent human resources agent who meets the necessary technical requirements and moral qualities.
From the point of view of the periodicity in which they are practiced.
- Periodic.Continuous.Sporadic.
Periodic Audit: they are carried out on a certain date.
Continuous Audit: they are those that are systematically carried out, that is, as operations are carried out, or short or irregular intervals.
Sporadic Audit: The term or continuity do not influence these, but rather the need to examine at any given time.
Internationally, audits are classified according to:
- The affiliation of the auditor: State and Independent or Private The relation of work: External and Internal The object that is reviewed: General State, State fiscal and Independent
The fundamental objectives pursued: Management, Financial, Special and Fiscal
The internal nature of the Audit Bodies of companies means that the most widely used classifications are the Internal ones, which constitute the control that is developed as an instrument of the administration itself and consists of an independent assessment of their activities: examination of the Internal Control systems, accounting - financial operations and application of the corresponding administrative and legal provisions, with the aim of improving the control and degree of economy, efficiency and effectiveness in the use of resources, preventing their improper use and contribute to the strengthening of discipline in general.
They are classified by the Ministry of Audit and Control (MAC) as follows: Accounting Audits and Computer Audits.
Accounting Audit
Management and results audit:
Its purpose is to review the management of a company with the purpose of evaluating the effectiveness of its results with respect to the planned goals, the human, financial and technical resources used, the organization and coordination of said resources and the controls established on said management.
It is an effective support tool for business management, where you can find out the variables and the different types of control that must be produced in the company and that are able to recognize and value their importance as an element that affects the competitiveness of the company. same.
The description and analysis of the strategic control, the control of efficiency, fulfillment of business objectives, the operational control or control of execution and an analysis of the control are taken into account as a key factor of competitiveness.
Management or Operational:
It consists of the examination and evaluation, which is carried out on an entity to establish the degree of Economy, Efficiency and Efficacy in the planning, control and use of resources and to verify compliance with the relevant provisions, with the aim of verifying the use more rational use of resources and improvement of the activities or subjects examined, in accordance with the objectives and anticipated goals, includes the examination of the organization, structure, internal accounting, and administrative control, the consequent application of the Generally Accepted Accounting Principles, reasonableness of the Financial Statements, as well as the degree of fulfillment of the objectives to be achieved in the audited organization or entity.
Comprehensive Audits:
They are those audits that are in the middle point between a management and a financial audit, since it is accounting - financial and has management elements to a great extent, taking into account the fundamental activity of the audited unit. In this, it must be defined in the conclusions if the Financial Statements reasonably reflect the financial situation and the results of its operations and if the resources managed by the entity and which were reviewed, are used with Economy, Efficiency and Efficiency.
Financial Audit:
It consists of the examination and evaluation of the entity's documents, operations, records and Financial Statements, to determine if they reasonably reflect its financial situation and the results of its operations, as well as compliance with economic-financial provisions, with the objective of improving procedures related to them and internal control.
Administrative audit:
It is reviewing and evaluating whether the methods, systems, and procedures followed in all phases of the administrative process ensure compliance with policies, plans, programs, laws, and regulations that may have a significant impact on the operation of reports and ensure that the organization is complying and respecting them.
It is the methodical and orderly examination of the objectives of a company of its organic structure and the use of the human element in order to report the facts investigated.
Its importance lies in the fact that it provides the managers of an organization with an overview of how it is being administered by the different hierarchical and operational levels, pointing out successes and deviations from those areas whose detected administrative problems require greater or prompt attention.
Operational Audit:
It is the subsequent, professional, objective and systematic examination of all or part of the operations or activities of a particular entity, project, program, investment or contract, its specific component or operational units.
Its purpose is to determine the degrees of effectiveness, economy and efficiency achieved by the organization and make recommendations to improve the evaluated operations. Basically related to the objectives of effectiveness, efficiency and economy.
Thematic Audits:
It refers to those that are carried out with the purpose of examining one to four specific topics on time, covering in depth the aspects related to these topics that allow evaluating in all its dimensions whether the unit complies with the established regulations.
Special Audits:
They consist of the verification of specific issues and topics, of a part of the financial or administrative operations, of certain facts or special situations and responds to a specific need.
Recurring Audits:
They are those where the Measurement Plans elaborated in previous audits are examined, where a rating of Poor or Bad was obtained, in the case of Management, Comprehensive, Financial, Thematic or Special Audits.
Compliance audit:
It is the verification or examination of financial, administrative, economic and other operations of an entity to establish that they have been carried out in accordance with the legal, regulatory, statutory and procedural norms that are applicable to it.
This audit is performed by reviewing documents that legally, technically, financially and accountingly support the operations to determine if the procedures used and the internal control measures are in accordance with the standards that are applicable to it and if those procedures are operating in a manner effective and are suitable for achieving the entity's objectives.
Environmental management audit:
The growing need to control the environmental impact generated by human activities has led to an increase in awareness of the environment within many industrial sectors.
Due to this, the simple actions to ensure legislative compliance have given way to environmental management systems that allow structuring and integrating all environmental aspects, coordinating the efforts made by the company to reach its planned objectives.
It is necessary to analyze and know at all times all the pollution factors generated by the company's activities, and for this reason it will be necessary for qualified people to be available within the human team to assess the possible impact of environmental vectors. Establishing a systematic way of carrying out this evaluation is a basic tool so that their conclusions contribute to improvements to the established management system.
The permanent application of the continuous improvement concept is a benchmark that in the environmental field has a constant practical impact, and for this reason the review of all aspects related to the minimization of environmental impact must be an action carried out without interruption.
Computer Audit
Computer systems audit:
It deals with analyzing the activity that is known as systems technique in all its facets. Today, the growing importance of telecommunications has led to communications. Lines and networks of computer facilities are audited separately, even though they are part of the general systems environment.
Its purpose is the examination and analysis of the administrative procedures and the internal control systems of the audited company. At the end of the work carried out, the auditors present in their report those weak points that they have been able to detect, as well as the recommendations on the appropriate changes to introduce, in their opinion, in the organization of the company.
Normally, companies operate with general policies, but there are procedures and methods, which are more operational terms. Procedures are also systems; if they are well done, the company will work better.
The systems audit analyzes all the procedures and methods of the company with the intention of improving its effectiveness.
Regular Computer Audit:
It refers to those made to the quality of the information existing in the databases of the computer systems that are used to control the resources, their environment and the risks associated with this activity.
Special Computer Audit:
It consists of the analysis of the specific aspects related to the databases of the computer systems in which some type of alteration or incorrect operation of the same has been detected.
Computer Recurring Audit:
They are those where the Measurement Plans elaborated in previous computer audits where the qualification of Poor or Bad was obtained, either in a Regular or Special.
The Generally Accepted Auditing Standards (NAGAS) are the fundamental audit principles to which auditors must adhere to their performance during the audit process. Compliance with these standards guarantees the quality of the auditor's professional work.
Process of an Audit of Personnel or Human Resources:
It is the process or set of investigative techniques applicable to an item or group of items or to a group of facts or circumstances examined by which the auditor obtains the necessary bases to support his opinion.
During the audit process, some investigative techniques or methods are put into practice and the auditor uses them to check the reasonableness of the information that allows him to omit his professional opinion.
These techniques are:
General study.
Analysis (balances and movements)
Inspection.
Confirmation (Positive, Negative and Soft or blind)
Research.
Declarations.
Certification
Observation.
Calculation.
Similarly, specific audits are carried out, detailing fundamental aspects of the evaluation of each process.
The plan would contain the following points:
Name of the audit project (Process to be evaluated)
Proposed General Objective
Specific objectives
Activities to develop
Start date
Finish date
Report Delivery Date
Responsible Auditor
Resources to use
The audit requires the development of a process that can be explained in the following process diagram expressed in the following figure.
Audit process
Audit plan
Definition of the audit background
Analysis of time, working papers and knowledge of the structure.
Audit report
System Tracking
What Does the Audit Cover? Why? Where? And who? Does the Audit:
DEPTH AND DEPTH OF ACTION OF THE AUDIT OF PERSONNEL OR HUMAN RESOURCES.
The human resources audit can cover a coverage as broad as the same functions of ARH (Human Resources Administration) and has a division similar to the sectional divisions of ARH (Human Resources Administration) agencies.
Audits usually begin with an assessment of the business relationships that affect the management of human potential, including line and staff personnel, the qualifications of human resources staff members, and the adequacy of financial support for various programs.. From there a variety of patterns and measurements are applied, the depth scale of which depends on the type of examination to be carried out. Personnel records and reports are examined. An examination report is analyzed, compared and prepared, which almost always includes recommendations for changes and alterations.
The audit can also evaluate programs, policies, philosophies, and theories. Depending on the policy that exists in the organization.
The HR audit can focus on any or all of the following productivity aspects.
- Results, which include both achievements and problems considered effects of ongoing administration; Programs, which include the detailed practices and procedures that comprise them; Policies, both explicit and formalized as well as implicit; Management philosophy, its values priorities, goals and objectives; Theory, assumptions, and plausible explanations that detail and relate philosophies, policies, practices, and continuing problems.
The larger and more decentralized the organization, the greater the need for systematic audit coverage.
The audit can develop a strong educational impact, since it allows the quality of human resource management to be related to the various efficiency indicators of the company. It allows to observe to what extent the administration was successful in the personal identification of the employees with the processes of the organization and the acceptance of the organizational objectives.
The audit may also present indicators of leadership quality, job motivation, supervisory deficiency, and continued growth and development of employees and managers taken individually.
The audit allows verifying:
- To what extent human resources policy is based on an acceptable theory, to what extent the practice and procedures are adequate to such policy and theory. In essence, it is about evaluating and measuring the results of the ARH (Human Resources Administration) in the activities of greater or lesser priority, such as: Indicators of efficiency and effectiveness in terms of staff training, training and development, remuneration, social benefits, union relations, etc., Clarification of objectives and expectations regarding ARH in terms of quantity, quality, time and cost; Use of resources and results obtained; Contribution of ARH in the objectives and results of the company;
Organizational climate, development and incentive to personal creativity.
The most important changes that alter the HR audit scenario are:
- Change in administrative philosophies and theories. The change in the role of government and its increasing intervention in order to monitor the administration of human potential and protect the interests of employees, increasing economic security and guaranteeing full employment; Expansion of unions and bilateral determination of employment policy, with frequent criticism of administrative competition in industrial relations; Frequent wage increases, which imply a higher cost of labor and greater opportunities to develop a competitive advantage in the administration Personnel The change in skills required for some technical and professional workers who present more difficult administrative problems and a more critical attitude towards administration;Increased expenses for Industrial Relations staff divisions, implying a higher ratio of staff and higher salaries for Industrial Relations specialists; More aggressive international competition, resulting from the widening circle of industrialization, which destroyed the myth of the old advantage that North American companies enjoyed.
The Human Resources Audit is carried out in all the departments of the company or institution, since human resources are found in each and every one of them.
The Human Resources Audit Agent is the one who does it. Which can be a specialist, an external consultant or an internal commission that has as coordinator the director of human resources or the manager of industrial relations. Others form commissions and hire the external consultant to guide them. In any case, the HR audit has a strong educational impact on the organization.
COMPARISON WITH OTHER AUDITS
INFORMATION SOURCES
The human resources audit is based on verifications, follow-ups, records and statistics.
CONTROL OF ENTRY AND EXIT OF PERSONNEL
Staff attendance books
They will contain the daily record of the entry and exit of employees during the working day, which will detail:
- Consecutive entry or exit number Employee name Time Signature
Observation: The book must be placed in an easily accessible place to the regional one under the custody and administration of the Receiver and a clock will be placed in a visible place that will mark the official time.
Observation: Late arrivals and absences of the staff must be reported to the headquarters on the corresponding forms during the three business days after the end of each month.
Checker Clock
- Registration of personnel entries and exits per day Notification messages of exits not registered in the system Management of tolerances for control of entrances and exits
COMPUTERIZED SYSTEMS TO CONTROL THE ENTRY AND EXIT OF THE PERSONNEL
There are different types of computerized systems or software that allow controlling the entry and exit of personnel, among them we could mention the so-called CHEKTIME.
CHECKTIME: it is the best solution for control of entrances
and exits by means of the fingerprint.
- Management of different schedules
The software allows specifying a schedule for the entire company and / or managing specific schedules by group / shift and even specifying specific hours for each employee.
- Administration Options
- Record company data Access to the system catalogs menu Access to operational reports Adjustment to the log of entries and exits Search speed
Option to use search filters to streamline the entry and exit rows of personnel, such as employee key, last name initials, etc.
- Search Speed
Optionally use search filters to streamline the entry and exit rows of personnel, such as employee key, surname initials, etc.
- Benefits
Some tangible and affordable benefits of using fingerprint technology on manual, magnetic or barcode cards are:
- Non-duplicable Non-transferable Portable Low maintenance cost Zero replacement cost Minimal error margin.01%
PERSONAL ACTION CONTROL
The larger the organization and the more decentralized its structure, the greater the need for control over human resources.
The word control has many connotations and its meaning depends on its function or the specific area in which it is applied.
It can be the administrative and managerial function of control. In this case. Control is part of the administrative process, together with planning, organization and management.
It can be the set of means of regulation of a system or organization. This is the case of the specific tasks that the controller applies in a company. Control in an automatic system that maintains a constant degree of flow or operation of the total system. The control mechanism detects any deviation from normal patterns and allows for proper process regulation.
It can be the restrictive function of a system to keep the members within the desired parameters. This is the case of the frequency control and personnel file.
For Sherwin, the essence of control is action that adjusts operations to predetermined patterns, and its basis is the information managers receive. Koontz and O'Donnell believe that control is the administrative function that consists of measuring and correcting the performance of subordinates, in order to ensure that the company's objectives or the plans outlined to achieve them are carried out.
Control is not only about verifying if everything is in accordance with the adopted plan, the instructions issued and the established principles, it aims to point out the failures and errors to rectify them and avoid re-offending them. It applies to everything: things, people and acts.
Regarding personnel control, it is necessary to take into account the development of forms:
- Maintenance of Workers. Flexibility in the definition and control of Schedules. Definition and assignment of Calendars. Control of overtime and excess hours. Alternative schedules. Control of visits. Adaptability to different models of clocks (if applicable).
Taking into account the above parameters, it is likely that you can develop your own forms.
Control of human resources:
Its function is the evaluation of the effectiveness in the implantation and execution of each and every one of the personnel programs and of the fulfillment of the objectives of this department, applying the evaluation to the recruitment and selection, training and development, motivation, wages and salaries., safety and hygiene and benefits.
The personnel evaluation studies are carried out in accordance with the control process.
Evaluation and control patterns in human resources
The human resources management system needs employers capable of allowing a continuous evaluation and systematic control of its operation.
Pattern in a criterion or model that is previously established to allow comparison with the results or with the objectives achieved. By means of the comparison with the standard, the results obtained can be evaluated and verifying that adjustments and corrections must be made in the system, in order for it to work better.
Various patterns are used, this can be:
- Quantity patterns: are those that are expressed in numbers or quantities, such as number of employees, percentage of employee turnover, number of admissions, accident rate, etc. Quality standards: they are those that are related to non-quantifiable aspects, such as employee selection methods, training results, performance evaluation operation. Etc., Time patterns: they consist of the speed with which newly admitted personnel are integrated, the average permanence of the employee in the company, the processing time of personnel requisitions, etc. Cost patterns: They are the direct and indirect costs of staff turnover, accidents at work, social benefits, social obligations, and the cost-benefit ratio of training.
The standards allow evaluation and control through comparison with:
- Final results : when the comparison enters the pattern and the variable is made after the operation has been performed. The measurement is made in terms of something quick and finished, at the end of the line, which has the drawback of showing the successes and failures of an already completed operation, a kind of death certificate of something that has already happened. Performance : when the comparison between the pattern and the variable is made simultaneously with the operation, that is, when the comparison accompanies the execution of the operation. Measurement is concomitant with operation processing. Although it is carried out simultaneously, what it means is that it is current, the measurement is carried out on an operation in process and not yet finished.
Comparison is the function of verifying the degree of agreement between a variable and its pattern.
HUMAN RESOURCES INFORMATION SYSTEM
Information system is a set of interdependent elements (subsystem), logically associated, so that the information necessary for decision-making is generated from their interaction.
Assembling a human resources information system requires systematic observation and analysis and evaluation of the company, or its subsystems, and their respective information needs. An information system must identify and group all the networks of information flows so that it is projected towards each group of decisions.
In essence, the information system is the basis of the organization's decision-making process.
Planning an HR information system
A human resources information system uses, as a data source, elements provided by:
- Human resources database. Recruitment and selection of personnel. Training and development of personnel. Evaluation of performance. Administration of salary. Registration and control of personnel, regarding absences, delays, discipline, etc., Personnel statistics. Hygiene and Security, respective headquarters, etc.
The HR information system must be planned and implemented to achieve certain objectives. The achievement of these objectives is what will make it possible to evaluate the effectiveness of the system: Make it possible for line organizations to make adequate decisions regarding people.
REGISTRATION AND CONTROL OF PERSONNEL:
The registration and control of incidents and overtime of personnel, which allows the agencies to have information that guides decision-making and complies with the requirements of the centralizing agencies.
Process to ensure that actual activities conform to planned activities. It allows to keep the organization or system on track.
The word control has been used with several different meanings:
- Control as a coercive and restrictive function, to inhibit or prevent undesirable behaviors, such as being late to work or classes, making scandals, etc. Control as verification of something, to see if it is correct, such as verifying tests or notes. Control as comparison with some reference standard such as thinking a merchandise on another scale, comparing students' notes, etc. Control as an administrative function, that is, as the fourth stage of the administrative process. It constitutes the fourth and last stage of the administrative process. This tends to ensure that things are done according to expectations or as planned, organized and directed, noting failures and errors in order to repair them and prevent them from recurring.
ESTABLISHMENT OF STANDARDS:
A standard can be defined as a unit of measurement that serves as a model, guide or standard on which the control is carried out.
Standards are established criteria against which results can be measured; they represent the expression of the planning goals of the company or department in such terms that the actual achievement of the assigned duties can be measured against them.
The standards can be physical and represent quantities of products, service units, man-hours, speed, volume of rejection, etc., or they can be stipulated in monetary terms such as costs, income or investments; or other terms of measurement.
Results measurement:
If control is properly fixed and if there are means available to determine exactly what subordinates are doing, comparing actual performance to what is expected is easy. But there are activities in which it is difficult to establish control standards, making measurement difficult.
Correction:
If deviations are detected as a result of the measurement, immediately correct those deviations and establish new plans and procedures so that they do not recur.
Feedback:
Once the deviations are corrected, reprogram the control process with the information obtained causing the deviation.
PERSONNEL REGISTRATION AND CONTROL AUDIT
Contributed by: CLARIBEL ARIAS DUVERGE - [email protected]
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