Quality auditing and compliance are both incredibly important areas of any business’s operations. An individual or team will oversee the way the business works and/or what the business offers to ensure the quality of products, services and business operations are at the highest level of compliance. Working in a quality auditing role usually revolves around the details of the product or service the organisation is selling, to ensure the quality standards are met.
Compliance roles involve adhering to regulations, governmental requirements and industry standards relevant to the organisation, as well as ensuring practices and procedures are of the expected company standard. The benefit of a career in quality auditing and/or compliance is that professionals with skills and experience in quality assurance and compliance are required in a multitude of industries, particularly fast-growing industries like manufacturing, medical and healthcare, supply chain and transport and finance.
Working in a quality auditing or compliance role is about identifying problems and risk factors to reduce and resolve. Employers are looking for individuals who have excellent attention to detail for this reason. Problem-solving is a big part of the job, as coming up with recommendations and advice for organisations to improve quality or meet compliance standards is imperative. As a skilled quality auditing or compliance professional, you must have great communication skills, be able to work well under pressure and time constraints, as well as be an honest and integrity-based individual.
Compliance officers can range from entry-level responsibilities to mid-level, and work in a variety of industries. Professionals in this role can have many responsibilities including auditing, training staff in work health and safety practices, looking at financial compliance, risk assessment and management, and keeping up to date with relevant legislation surrounding compliance.
Quality inspectors are responsible for conducting reviews of products when they are being made to ensure they are meeting industry and company standards. This includes running quality tests, writing up reports and identifying risks or issues.
Professionals in this role are involved in improving a business’s standards in quality processes, as well as conducting inspections, and proposing solutions to potential quality issues that may arise.
Compliance coordinators are heavily involved with collecting and assessing data for an organisation, as well as writing detailed reports and recommendations to improve compliance standards and processes.
Quality Managers or quality assurance managers oversee all quality processes, procedures and programs to make sure the standards exceed governmental requirements and match the quality standard of the company. They can manage a team of quality professionals and auditors, assess compliance and also be involved with customer engagement for product/service feedback.
A compliance manager oversees the quality and compliance team, but manages all compliance issues, company regulations, processes and procedures by regularly auditing and improving business operations to adhere to best practices. Compliance managers and quality managers have similar responsibilities, however quality relates more to product or service detail as well as quality standards. Compliance relates to the regulations, governmental requirements and industry body laws your organisation must adhere to.
Internal auditors are qualified professionals who provide evaluations to a business on their quality processes and standards, and recommend improvements and changes to be made. They are either employed independently or considered to be independent of company to ensure they can properly audit the business operations and processes.
Compliance officers can range from entry-level responsibilities to mid-level, and work in a variety of industries. Professionals in this role can have many responsibilities including auditing, training staff in work health and safety practices, looking at financial compliance, risk assessment and management, and keeping up to date with relevant legislation surrounding compliance.
Quality inspectors are responsible for conducting reviews of products when they are being made to ensure they are meeting industry and company standards. This includes running quality tests, writing up reports and identifying risks or issues.
Professionals in this role are involved in improving a business’s standards in quality processes, as well as conducting inspections, and proposing solutions to potential quality issues that may arise.
Compliance coordinators are heavily involved with collecting and assessing data for an organisation, as well as writing detailed reports and recommendations to improve compliance standards and processes.
Quality Managers or quality assurance managers oversee all quality processes, procedures and programs to make sure the standards exceed governmental requirements and match the quality standard of the company. They can manage a team of quality professionals and auditors, assess compliance and also be involved with customer engagement for product/service feedback.
A compliance manager oversees the quality and compliance team, but manages all compliance issues, company regulations, processes and procedures by regularly auditing and improving business operations to adhere to best practices. Compliance managers and quality managers have similar responsibilities, however quality relates more to product or service detail as well as quality standards. Compliance relates to the regulations, governmental requirements and industry body laws your organisation must adhere to.
Internal auditors are qualified professionals who provide evaluations to a business on their quality processes and standards, and recommend improvements and changes to be made. They are either employed independently or considered to be independent of company to ensure they can properly audit the business operations and processes.
A day in the life of a quality auditing professional or compliance officer varies greatly depending on the industry. In general, professionals in these roles can expect to be writing, viewing or assessing reports, meeting with stakeholders or other employees, communicating new or improved procedures or policies to teams and department heads, conducting audits or compliance assessments and more. Quality auditors in certain industries such as manufacturing may need to visit different plants or locations, or, as a skilled quality assurance professional, visit different practices in the healthcare sector. Compliance officers can work autonomously or within a team reporting to a compliance manager and have a financial and data analysis focus with assessing operational processes or business activities.
Compliance challenges in the finance sector
Reports on the top compliance challenges that organisations experience show that there are three major and consistent challenges faced in compliance, particularly in the finance sector:
Resource constraints (42%)
Time (35%)
Capability (23%)
Improving visibility in compliance
Since the Royal Commission, data shows that Australian business leaders in this sector have in fact taken a strong approach to ensure visibility is increased in compliance, with almost 75% of surveyed executives reporting this increase, which is significant to the approximately 45% reported in 2017. (IDM, 2019)
This opens up plenty of career opportunities for professionals seeking a compliance career, with Seek reporting a strong job growth trajectory for compliance managers, with 9.8% projected job growth in five years (SEEK).
As the world adapts to post-COVID, in the work world, quality auditing and compliance have never been so important. Deloitte’s survey of executives around the globe identified that 90% of leaders feel their company would greatly benefit from an increased auditing approach to all business operations, to be more prepared for risks in these times.
“Adhering to sound internal controls principles and practices, employing robust systems of quality control and entrenching a culture of ethics and integrity can go a long way to helping an organisation remain resilient in times of crisis.” – Forbes, 2020
This qualification is suited to professionals seeking to further their existing quality auditing career and develop skills needed to manage, implement quality procedures and lead audits. This diploma is suited to professionals looking to move into quality assurance roles or higher-level management roles.
Learn skills in initiating, participating, reporting on and leading quality audits. Understand how to manage project quality, business risk and compliance requirements. Develop soft skills in problem-solving to facilitate continuous improvement and learn influential communication tactics to secure stakeholder buy-in and adoption.
Quality Assurance Coordinator $62k
Quality Manager $91k
Internal Auditor $64k
This qualification is ideal for professionals working in a business coordination, administration, or operations role looking to move into a compliance role. This diploma teaches highly sought-after technical skills in managing budgets and financial plans, interpreting compliance requirements, managing business resources, reporting and more.
As a qualified compliance professional you will possess interpersonal skills in critical thinking as well as leading and managing workplace communication.
Compliance Officer $62k
Compliance Coordinator $68k
Compliance Manager $92k
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Everyday I use the topics learned, it doesn't end at study, from risk assessing to quality control and so on.
[It] was good to get first-hand knowledge from people who have done this for many, many years. I was able to implement that in my learning, which has now rolled over into my career.
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