Whether you have a small or large organization, it’s crucial to maintain compliance for success. This is done through regular compliance training from platforms like True Office Learning.

But how can you tell if your business is compliant? That’s done through a compliance audit. This is a formal external review of the business operations and procedures, ensuring they are following all the applicable laws, regulations, standards, and rules. It’s something that asks, “Is the business doing what it must and what it agrees to do?”

Such audits will identify any compliance gaps and send recommendations for resolving issues, like beefing up cybersecurity learning using technology like True Office Learning, or making training more engaging.

Let’s take a look at the different kinds of compliance audits, depending on the industry you’re in.

1. HIPAA Compliance Audit

HIPAA, which is the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, was passed in 1996 to protect Americans’ privacy and security in terms of medical information. Moreover, it was passed to reduce healthcare fraud and ensure coverage for employees losing or changing jobs.

This audit applies to companies handling protected information for clients in terms of healthcare treatment, payment, and operations. This includes data in hard copy, digital, and oral form. Covered entities would include health care providers transmitting health information, health insurers, health care clearinghouses, and the like.

HIPAA compliance gives patients the peace of mind that all their private information is handled protected, and shared properly.

2. GDPR Compliance Audit

This is the General Data Protection Regulation, which the European Union passed in 2018. This legislation affects any organization worldwide that collects or processes any data related to EU citizens. Even if you are a US-based company, you need to comply with the GDPR if your process personal data and offer goods or services to EU residents or citizens.

The goal of the legislation is to further align privacy laws across Europe for consistent and effective privacy protection among all EU citizens and residents.

3. Sarbanes-Oxley Compliance Audit

This act, also shortened to SOX, was passed by Congress in 2002. This compliance is mandatory for all public companies, with a few provisions applying to privately-held entities, too.

The goal is to protect investors and improve the accuracy and reliability of all corporate disclosures.

4. PCI Compliance Audit

Also known as the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standards, this is created to protect consumers and data related to credit card usage. The PCI compliance standards will apply to anyone processing payment cards, including point-of-sale vendors, merchants, financial institutions, and even hardware and software developers creating infrastructure to process payments.

5. SOC 2 Compliance Audit

The American Institute of CPAs developed the SOC 2, a compliance standard for today’s technology companies. This would apply to service providers storing customer data in a cloud, requiring them to follow strict procedures and policies to properly protect information security.

Wrapping It Up

Take the steps to learn more about compliance and how to maintain complaints within the organization now.