The Systems 3 Group’s Auditing Services

Auditing is for business what car maintenance is for motoring.

Like many motorists, business often neglects fundamental maintenance practices – and like neglectful motorists, businesses that compromise on auditing, are often left stranded.

The Systems 3 Group believes that effective auditing systems and successful organisations are inseparable. Our auditing philosophies mirror our “Survive, Sustain, Shine” model for business excellence.

The survive phase is about sorting out the basic operating requirements of a business. These criteria include: shareholder expectations, customer requirements, legislation, community obligations, standards and codes of practice. During the survive phase, The Systems 3 Group performs two essential functions for business: we determine the level of compliance to survival criteria and – equally importantly - we deliver reports that are improvement focussed. Unlike many auditing organisations, we believe that making recommendations for improvement is essential in any audit.

The sustain phase is about ensuring that survival criteria can be achieved in the long term. Mere compliance with standards and legislation does not equal sustainable business practices. During the sustain phase, our auditing clients will have achieved reliable systems to meet statutory and other obligations. This means that our audits can now extend beyond compliance with mandatory requirements, and focus on auditing for sustained improvement.

Once an organization has achieved sustainable practices, it then seeks to shine. The shine phase is the most challenging, yet rewarding phase of the Survive, Sustain, Shine process. To shine an organization must embrace innovation - built on the solid foundation of sustainable practice. During this phase, our audits become more outwardly focused. The focus shifts to auditing performance against the best performers in the market. Of course, we continue to ensure that mandatory requirements continue to be met.

Regardless of the phase in which an audit occurs, our auditors always work within The Systems 3 Group standards. These standards include:

• Business performance is more important than ‘compliance’
• Auditors must be honest, even if the news is not positive
• Auditors must report root causes of deficiencies
• Deficiencies highlighted during an audit invariably have root causes in decisions made by
   management
• Auditors have an obligation to make recommendations
• Audits must be undertaken by people qualified and experienced to do so.