4.4. Follow-up activities

After an adequate period of time has passed, it is necessary to follow up on the fulfilment of recommendations with the audited organisations.

A few months/a year after completing the audit it is good practice to gather feedback from the auditees. This could be done, for instance, as a survey or a follow-up meeting. In order to receive a comprehensive response, it is advisable to gather feedback from as many sources as possible.

Once a couple of years have passed since the audit, the auditors should consider whether it is necessary to conduct another audit on the same topic. Although a previously conducted audit provides valuable input for planning the next one, the next audit plan cannot merely be a copy of the previous one.

Please note: There may not always be a need to conduct a follow-up audit. Sometimes it is enough to make a follow-up interview or make a request for clarification on whether the recommendations of the audit have been implemented.

It must be kept in mind that the implementation of environmental programmes and projects takes time, and it takes even longer to see actual results in the environment or changes in practices (e.g. citizens behaviour). Therefore, it is important to keep a close eye on long lasting projects (e.g. the construction of a radioactive waste storage site) or long-term objectives (e.g. climate neutrality by 2050).

Follow-up example  NAO Estonia has audited several times hazardous waste managment in Estonia. In 2015 audit “Processing of hazardous and radioactive waste” was conducted. Three years later in 2018 the follow-up audit was done: “Follow-up audit on processing of hazardous and radioactive waste“, and in 2022 the other follow-up audit was conducted: “Organisation of hazardous and radioactive waste management (follow-up audit)”. The main conclusion of the last follow-up audit was: The Ministry of the Environment has not made any decisions to improve the management of hazardous waste following the 2018 audit by the National Audit Office, nor has it been able to develop a functioning form of management for the Vaivara Hazardous Waste Management Centre in which waste producers cover all the costs related to the landfilling of hazardous waste and operation of the centre. Preparatory work for the establishment of the final man-made radioactive waste repository has started, but there are no funds for long-term financing of the final repository by the state.

Follow-up activities provide a valuable input for evaluating the impact of an audit and identifying possible points for improvement in the audit work.

With this, we have walked through the entire audit process. Environmental audits differ from performance audits mainly due to their subject, the audit process is same as always. We hope that after taking this course you have more confidence to select an environmental subject for auditing.