What are audits of consumer services? ___An audit is an independent, formal inspection of the procedures, practices, policies, and/or programs of a service, in order to show that that the service is what it is meant to be, and that it adheres to accepted legal, ethical, and professional standards. ___You acknowledge two types of consumer services: Publicly-funded services offered to a target population - often disadvantaged - to improve its physical, economic, psychological, or social well-being. Publicly-regulated services offered to the general public. Why conduct audits of consumer services? ___To determine whether needed services are actually being provided ___To use as ammunition for an advocacy campaign to acquire needed services ___To determine whether services that are being funded are actually being provided as they were intended to be ___To protect the interests of those for whom the services are intended ___To protect the economic and social interests of the public, who are paying for the services or their regulation ___To improve the chances of the successful resolution of community issues ___To foster social change Who should conduct audits of consumer services? ___Do you have the expertise to conduct the audit? ___Do you have the resources to conduct the audit? ___Are you the most appropriate party to conduct the audit? (Is it someone else's job?) ___Can you gain the cooperation of the organization to be audited? ___Would an audit by you be as credible as one conducted by someone better known? If you don't conduct the audit, you might choose: ___A government oversight agency or regulator ___A professional oversight body ___A watchdog organization ___Academics and other researchers and experts in the field ___Eminent individuals or commissions they serve on ___An audit team from one or more peer organizations ___Funders When should you conduct audits of consumer services? ___When you're advocating for the need for a particular service ___When there's a question about the availability of services ___When there's a question about equity in the delivery of services ___When funding is at stake ___When there's a broad-ranging community development or other, similar effort How do you organize and conduct audits of consumer services? ___You gather evidence of the need for the audit ___You identify an appropriate auditor ___You gather support for the audit To conduct an audit of consumer services: ___You budget adequate resources for the audit ___You negotiate beforehand with the organization to be audited ___You decide what information you need ___You gather data ___You analyze the data ___You prepare an audit report, including a plan for correcting whatever problems you found ___You work with the audited organization to put remedies into practice ___You decide what to do with the audit results ___You create a plan for maintaining the audit process
