Construction auditing
Construction projects are mostly carried out by separate, external specialists and internal specialist departments.
This often leads, during the project preparation, to credit procurement, awarding, execution of works, dimension specification, costs and adherence to schedules as well as construction invoicing, major problems and incompatibilities.
Construction auditing includes all planning and construction services in connection with the building activities of the company, in respect of administration. Meant by this are all categories of construction, such as road, rail or bridge construction, accommodation, industrial or administration construction, underground, hydraulic construction etc. including delivery and assembly of operating facilities or whole building components.
Audit tasks are necessary in the creation of new or conversion builds, as well as repair and maintenance provision for existing objects; demolition works and disposal of building materials are also components of audits during the construction audit. The audit field of construction services also includes the supervision of grants and contributions from third parties.
Fundamentally, construction auditing involves checks before the start of construction (planning), during the implementation of construction, or after end of construction (usage). Whereby, above all at the start of a construction process, the possibilities of influencing are greatest and the possible savings potential are most significant. The later any consideration is given to cost-effective solutions, the lower becomes any contribution to cost optimisation.
The goal of continuous construction auditing is to achieve, with all parties concerned, through continuous checks, controls and goal definition, an optimal project result in terms of quality, deadlines and finance. For this, all processes for all phases are analysed, supervised and, if necessary, corrected. Short-term needs of the individual involved should not lead to the long-term goal falling out of focus. That is the watchword of construction auditing.
The audit scope of construction auditing
Profile of requirements for construction auditing
In the auditing of construction services, the auditors stray into a particular field of tension. They must demonstrate their competence in economic, trading and construction technology fields. Not only a confident manner, but also expert knowledge are necessary.
In addition to the economic and trading knowledge, which an employee must have at his fingertips during an internal audit, belongs build-specific expertise to the construction auditor’s know-how.
Construction audit partners are mostly architects, construction or specialist engineers, as well as contractors and constructors. Furthermore, construction audit expertise extends over all sectors of the building trade and industry. To which also belong an understanding of political decisions (also business policies) and requirements from associations/societies (e.g. SBV, SIA, Coordination body for building organisations of the [Swiss] Confederation (KBOB)).
