By Marco Pardave
ISO 37001 “Anti-bribery management systems—Requirements with guidance for use” is even more relevant and transcendent than the ISO 9001 standard as it relates to quality control management systems worldwide. A loss of confidence in anti-bribery efforts affects the credibility of both standards. These standards can be used by institutions as shields to hide poor quality and unethical behavior. Specifically, institutions may potentially conduct illegal business before, during, and after their certification, which goes undetected by ISO 37001 auditors. This points to the importance of competence in auditing.
Therefore, consultants and certification bodies must consider preparing a gap analysis of the anti-bribery management system, drawing on the following areas of expertise:
- Legal/judicial and regulatory affairs
- Financial/accounting affairs
- IT/communications and cybersecurity affairs
- Management systems
Being a management systems auditor is to give added value to the findings during the auditing process—findings that will in turn present improvement opportunities to make the company more profitable, increase customer satisfaction, and project an organizational image of transparency and ethics that comply with the basis of ISO 37001.