Audit Your Agency – Here's Why

Why is it vital for you to audit your agency regularly? Auditing will help you identify errors in your files and help ensure your staff is adhering to agency policies and procedures while maintaining a high level of documentation quality.

• This can help to reduce agency’s exposure to E&O claims while improving efficiency and customer satisfaction.
• You can identify areas where employees may lack understanding and provide them with additional training.
• It demonstrates to the staff that they will be held accountable if they are not adhering to agency expectations. Employees not meeting the agency’s expectations increase the potential for an E&O issue to arise.

Who should conduct the audits? This will largely depend on the size of the agency and quantity of files to be reviewed. However, individuals should have sufficient experience with the material they will review and have been provided with training on the audit process.

How many files should be reviewed? This will vary depending on the work performed and the frequency of the audits. A benchmark of 10% is a place to start – but you must consider what makes the most sense for your agency. For newer or less experienced staff, a higher number of files should be reviewed. This will help identify areas where additional training may be needed. However, even experienced staff members can make errors, so include them in the process.

How often should files be reviewed? Perform audits monthly, if possible, to quickly identify any emerging issues or need for additional training.

What areas of the agency should be audited? Because your agency likely consists of numerous disciplines – such as marketing, customer service, sales, accounting, etc. – ensure that each of these areas is reviewed. Each has procedures that, if disregarded or not performed properly, could cause problems for the agency.

Analyze the results for individual employees and for the agency once the audits have been completed. Do specific areas/individuals stand out? Do your policies and procedures need modifications for clarity? Is additional training necessary? Advise employees who performed well and thank them for their efforts and commitment. For those that are not performing well, meet with them to better understand the reasons and help them improve.

There are two ways to find out if your staff isn't meeting the job expectations: perform audits or wait for an E&O claim to develop. While performing audits takes commitment and time, it is more cost effective than the alternative.

8 Steps to Take When Auditing Your Agency

1. Determine the workflow or process to be evaluated.
2. Identify the steps in the workflow or process as it is intended (make it fit your organization).
   1. Match to your policy, or
   2. Match to information expected to be gathered on new accounts, or
   3. Non-compliance with an established process
3. Determine the review period. You may choose to begin by reviewing 30 files or 10% of total volume for an initial sampling. For best results, perform the workflow review regularly.
4. Identify if there are any reports that can be run within your agency management system that can assist with your auditing process.
5. Have a staff member who’s removed from the process evaluate the steps in the process. Click here for a sample audit template.
6. Analyze results. Identify gaps in which the actual practice did not meet the intended workflow.
7. Provide real-time feedback to employees on their performance and any gaps in expected performance identified in the audit.
8. Develop an action plan to improve any areas of non-compliance.