By Peter Holtmann

I recently received an email asking, “Why is it possible for doctors, dentists, engineers, and lawyers to obtain university qualifications, register with relevant boards, and then enter private practice, yet it isn’t possible for management system auditors to do the same?”

It’s a valid point. Why are management system auditors perceived as having a lesser professional status than other professions that require them to be, in effect, bound to accredited certification boards?

I, too, share this sentiment and have dedicated considerable time pondering the issue. I have made it my life work to raise the profile of the professional auditor in relation to certification.

Personnel certification to professional standards allows us to clearly demonstrate the rigor of the auditing profession to the market.

Taking this one step further, professional development allows us to demonstrate the value auditors add to world trade, consumer safety and sentiment, and government confidence among deregulated processes.

Traditionally, auditors needed to align themselves with registrars to find work. This created Catch-22 situations such as “to gain employment, you need experience.”

However, conditions are changing. An increasing number of auditors are self-employed. The growth in the number of registrars means that practitioners need to be more cost competitive. As such, in today’s environment, a contracted auditor makes more economic sense.

One downfall to being self-employed, contracted, or “on call” is that your skills are open to scrutiny by registrars that don’t want to spend the time or money on “credentialing” you for their team. They expect you to come in with a proven set of skills in a defined set of industries. You now need to work harder to demonstrate these capabilities.

Organizations such as Exemplar Global can help with this. This isn’t intended as a sales pitch. This is a call to arms for aspiring and credentialed auditors to build the ranks of those seeking external recognition for their profession.

After all, the more professionals who are vocal about their profession, the more people stand up and listen, including registrars and customers.

Auditing is no more of an “end of line” job than a medical or legal professional. Assurance of process is not a tick in a box for product on its “way out the door.” It means that the business, whether it deals with a product or service, is committed to protecting the trust it has built with its consumers.

Many auditors share this frustration. It’s up to us as a profession to work together to change this perception. If you have any thoughts or questions on this topic, please leave a reply below.

About the author

Peter Holtmann is the president and CEO of Exemplar Global Inc., the premium provider of personnel certification and credential management and independent certification for training outcomes.