Quality assurance checks

Conduct quality assurance checks to confirm that processes are being followed correctly and to a high standard, and/or that goods received are what they are claimed to be.

This control targets both internal and external fraud risks.

Examples

Examples of this control include:

randomly selecting work to quality check, e.g. 2% of processed claims or decisions
having an independent person quality check high-risk activities on all occasions, e.g. changes to vendor records
having the procurement team quality check purchase orders above $10,000 before they go to the spending approver
selecting random or targeted samples of products to check that they are what they are claimed to be.

Risks from control gap

A lack of quality assurance checks can lead to:

reduced levels of compliance and increased errors due to inconsistent applications of processes, rules and decision-making
decreased transparency of actions and decisions made by employees and third parties
mismanagement of performance, decision making and risk
decreased detection and response to fraud or corrupt activity
goods and services that are unsafe or not fit for purpose being received by organisations or the public
clients, suppliers or businesses providing faulty goods or services anywhere in the supply chain process.

Assessing effectiveness

Methods to evaluate the effectiveness of this control include:

reviewing quality assurance processes to see if they align with quality assurance policies and standards
comparing data related to quality checks and measuring results against key performance indicators
reviewing quality checking processes to determine if the checks would identify fraud
confirming that employees know what quality assurance checks they need to do by doing a process walkthrough
confirming that employees understand how to perform quality assurance checks correctly and consistently by carrying out interviews, workshops and surveys
confirming that processes for high-risk activities include an independent review aspect, e.g. reviews by employees in other locations
confirming that processes are standardised across team members by comparing completed work from various employees.

Complementary controls

Other capability, prevention, detection and response controls that can enhance this control’s effectiveness:

Related fraudster personas

Types of behaviour this control is designed to mitigate:

The enabler

The exploiter

The fabricator

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