Writing Findings of

Nonconformity (Internal Audit

& other nonconformities)

Alan DG Fabella
Technical Resource Person
Program Objectives
– The participants shall be equipped with a guide
to the properly write a nonconformity
statement.
– The participants will be able to apply the
learning that will be gained from this training, in
accordance with your own procedure on internal
audit, including corrective/preventive action
Common Problems on Poorly-written Findings;

Auditees would say:

• I DON’T HAVE A CLUE WHAT YOU ARE SAYING OR WHAT

YOU ARE TALKING ABOUT……???
• WHY IS THIS AN NC?
• WHAT REQUIREMENT WAS NOT FULFILLED?
Common Problems on Poorly-written Findings;

From analysis of data collected from witness audits, NC

writing has been identified as one of the more significant
concerns.

Identified weaknesses were:

• Although the NC as written were “incident specific”, it did
not identify a systematic issue.
• The NC as written could not be understood by the
auditees after the audit was completed; and not
understandable at later date.
• The NC did not identify the actual requirement that was
not fulfilled.
• The NC did not identify the supporting objective
evidence.
 HOW TO WRITE AN IQA FINDING?

The purposes for writing a nonconformity are as

follows;

• To establish a verifiable evidence of a problem

discovered,
• To provide clear detailed information(s) so that
the problem(s) is understood and therefore can
be corrected.
 HOW TO WRITE AN IQA FINDING?

The following requirements have to be met;

1. What REQUIREMENTS of the audit criteria?

• What procedure/work instruction?
• What Quality Objective/Target?
• What IRR, Office circular/order, statutory or
regulatory requirements (Republic Act)?
• What clause of the PNS ISO9001:2015
Standard?
 HOW TO WRITE AN IQA FINDING?

2. What are the FINDINGS?

• What step in the REQUIREMENT was
missed out?
• What IRR, Office circular/order, statutory or
regulatory requirements (Republic Act) was
not fulfilled?
• What clause of the PNSISO9001:2015
Standard was not met?
• What target was not met?
 HOW TO WRITE AN IQA FINDING?

3. What is the SEVERITY of the findings?

• Up to what extent were you able to verify
the finding based on the number of samples
you took?

4. What are the TRACEABILITY details?

• Date, registration numbers, location
Some samples of proper IQA findings statement;
Internal audit of Property/Stores;

It is a requirement that inventory of stocks and materials is conduced

twice a year according to the NGAS Manual.
• At the time of audit of the offices’ property unit, the inventory of
supplies as of December 2015 (2nd semester of 2015) was not
available.

It is a requirement that stocks cards are kept up to date.

• At the time of audit there was inconsistency of quantity on one out of
the three consumable items sampled.
• Case in point; Long bond paper stock; where the stock card indicates
94 reams as of 3/9/16. RIS record shows 15 issued last 3/10/16 & the
actual quantity was 72 reams as of 3/29/16. There was a discrepancy
of 7 reams.
Some samples of proper IQA findings statement;
Internal audit of Purchasing;

Sec. 18 of RA 9184 states that “reference to brand names shall not be

allowed.”
• Case in point; there was a noncompliance on two out of the five
sampled purchase requisitions - PR#16-01-011 & PR#16-01-003; where
the brand of the item being requested was explicitly mentioned
PR#16-01-011 indicated the brand of tire “Goodyear” & PR#16-01-003
indicated the brand of sign pen “My-gel”.
Some samples of proper IQA findings statement;
NIA UPRIIS DIV III - OMIDS (Risk Registry);

Requirement; NIA MC 50, s. 2018 requires that the Risk Registry are
reviewed quarterly
• Finding; At the time of audit the risk registry of 1 operating section of
OMIDS had no evidence or record of review.
• Case in point; OMIDS Operation & Maintenance Risk Registry had no
record that it was review for Quarter 2 of 2019.
Some samples of proper IQA findings statement;
NIA UPRIIS DIV I - ADFIN (Accounting);

Requirement; GAAM (Government Accounting & Auditing Manual)

requires that all fields should have an entry where it is applicable (ex.
date, traceability numbers, etc.)
• Finding; At the time of audit of Accounting section 1 out of 3 samples
taken at random had no date indicated.
• Case in point; Voucher number 001-2019 dated Sep-17-2019 for
payment for PO# 0013-2019 dated Sep-10-2019 had no date indicated.
Some samples of proper IQA findings statement;
NIA UPRIIS DIV V - ADFIN (Procurement);

Requirement; EO 662 as amended by EO 662-A & 662-B requires the

posting of procurement opportunities & award to PhilGEPS Bulletin
Board
• Finding; upon verification of 3 awarded contracts, one was not posted
in the PhilGEPS bulletin board.
• Case in point; Contract ID No. NIA00013 for “Concrete lining of canals
at Munoz, NE 000 to 1+500” was not posted in the PhilGEPS bulletin
board until this date (Sep-17-2019). The project was awarded Aug-17-
2019.
Some samples of proper IQA findings statement;
NIA UPRIIS DIV IV - ADFIN (HR);

Requirement; Civil Service Rule #16 Sec. 34 “guidelines on the deduction

of tardiness“
• Finding; Tardiness & undertimes are deducted against vacation leave.
Sampling of leave records & DTR of 1 out of 5 employees was found
that undertime of 20min was not deducted promptly.
• Case in point; Employee ID No. 0003 had a total of 20min tardiness for
the period of March 1~16 2019 but according to our records the said
undertime was not yet deducted as of this assessment / audit date.
Some samples of proper IQA findings statement;
NIA UPRIIS DIV VI - ADFIN (HR);

Requirement; MC 201 file documentary requirements

• Finding; 2 out of 5 201 files are incomplete.
• Case in point; Employee ID No. 0001 had a no authenticated TOR
(transcript of records), employee 0002 had no record of SALN
(Statement of Assets, Liabilities & Network) for year 2018.
 Bibliography & references
• http://www.qualitygurus.com/courses/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=
17964
• www.sae.org/aaqg/audit.../Breakout_-
_NCR_writing_and_closure.ppt
• PNS ISO9001:2015 – Quality management systems - Requirements
Thank you very much for your attention