Counting down the no-nos during audits: Number 1: Bribing the auditor
As auditors for the pharmaceutical industry, we have the opportunity to visit the most wonderful places as well as the most interesting companies. We are lucky enough to conduct audits all over the world.
Apart from visiting some exemplary companies, we sometimes encounter things we would rather not see. In these last few weeks of 2018, we are counting down the 10 most surprising experiences of 2018 which we truly hope we will not encounter again: some funny, some awful, some just completely unacceptable. And as we are only human after all, some things that happened were through our own making.
Number 1: Bribing the auditor
In some countries it is common to exchange gifts between business relations as a token of respect and to confirm a good relationship. As professional auditors, we represent our clients, and often, the auditee sees no difference between us and our mutual clients. A country where exchanging gifts is acceptable is Japan. Whenever we go there, we take miniature Dutch clogs (made of porcelain) along as gifts, at a cost of 50 cents a pair.
In other countries, auditees sometimes hand over gifts to the auditor to ensure a favorable outcome of the audit. That is something we never allow.
During an audit of a family owned supplier company, we had an interesting experience: At several moments, the host, which was also the owner’s daughter, remarked that ‘papa’ was looking forward to meeting us. We just nodded in agreement and continued auditing. After repeating this remark a few times, she, at one point, indicated that the moment had come for me to meet ‘papa’. I was led to another floor of the building and guided to an enormous corner office with a magnificent view. There, behind a large wooden desk, an elderly man sat while smoking a cigar.
During the following conversation, the benefits of working together to provide (their) products to pharmaceutical companies were explained as well as how we could help them grow. All we had to do was tell our clients what a great company it was and to provide them with sample material. This would, of course, all be mutually beneficial. The whole atmosphere and behavior of the old man felt like a scene from ‘The Godfather’. We were ever so happy that we did not own a horse…………
At the end of the conversation, the older man provided me with cheese and a big box containing bottles of wine. Luckily, we were able to decline the box due to liquid restrictions on flights. We had never been this happy before with that 3-1-1 rule. We didn’t accept the cheese either.
After the audit, we respectfully declined their offers and have never heard of them since.
Next will be the Bonus: A yes-yes during audits: The CAPA we really like to see again!
As you can see, after reading this countdown series, we have extensive auditing experience and have encountered almost all possible situations: good and bad.
Would you like to take advantage of that experience and expertise? Contact us here and see how you can benefit.
We would like to wish you all the best for the new year!
Did you like this post: You can find the series HERE
Number 10: Living Pest Control
Number 9: Threatening the auditor
Number 8: Audit, was that today?
Number 7: Lunch
Number 6: Do not mind that liquid spill, that is probably harmless
Number 5: Oops, the cleanroom is flooded
Number 4: Doing the audit at all cost
Number 3: The audit as a black tie event
Number 2: Power outage on the site