Communicate with your auditor. Audits are meant to be an open, transparent process. There shouldn't be any surprises. Make sure you are clear on what the scope (what activities/ locations are in or out) of the audit is. Once we complete an audit and you realise you've forgotten to include an activity you're intending to provide, it's likely to be an expensive process to try to add it to your scope of activities.

Remember to include travel expenses when budgeting for your audit. Cost estimates can be fairly accurate for the auditing work but, until you and your audit team have made a plan for the audit, we can only provide you with a breakdown of the disbursements. This is another good reason for communicating with your auditor.

Use good technical advisors. We say this a lot, mostly because it's true. If you struggle with the audit process, look for an operator who seems to get through it easily and finds good value in it. They could be of real value to you to help you understand some requirements and to discuss any news in the industry, like new or increased risks and improved ways of doing things in your operation. 

Accept that your audit needs to happen if we're going to continue to provide Adventure Activities. Be open and help the auditor and technical experts to get a good look at your operation to be able to make an accurate assessment.



Certification bodies and auditors don't make the rules, we have to follow them. Shooting the messenger doesn't change the message, it just means you're less likely to get the message. Being sad about having to work in the rain makes you less happy. It doesn't make less rain. Make the most of the process.

Ensure you know what you are being audited against. An audit needs to be an objective assessment against a specific set of criteria. If you know what those criteria are, then you know what the auditor is looking for. Make sure you know which standard and guidelines are being used. An audit is actually a very valuable and should be embraced as a health-check of your systems and processes. If you ever end up in an investigation, you're going to be asked all the same questions that happen in an audit. Think of an audit as a fairly consequence-free test to see if your systems hold up under the scrutiny of an investigation.