PRIVATIZATION AND ENVIRONMENTAL AUDIT

The Auditing Process (Theory)

Environmental Auditing (EA) relates to the environmental management of a company and is directed towards the operating policy and its implementation (using proper work methods/procedures). The final result can be observed in practice. All these are illustrated in figure 1.

In order to test the quality of a company’s environmental management, some criteria and focus points must be identified. These criteria are the following: environmental technology, organisational and administrative structures.

Figure 1 Objects of environmental auditing

Environmental aspects may be considered by taking into account several typically environmental criteria such as: legal regulations, company standards (as long as they do not breach the applicable regulations), accepted general technical norms, as well as future regulations. The most important issue is what was described as the basic discipline of the environmental control which involves principles as: minimising the environmental impact of the company’s activities, developing preventive actions, tackling problems at their source and not at the “end of pipe”, etc.

Criteria, which are defined from an organisational perspective, are used to test whether a company’s organisation can effectively deal with its environmental and safety problems.

Administrative criteria are used to determine the extent to which a reliable source of information can represent an effective tool for appropriate internal control on environmental and safety issues.

Environmental auditing has a very broad scope. Mainly it is focussed on the environmental impact of manufacturing processes on site, but it also covers environmental aspects related to raw materials, suppliers, contracted services and off-site activities. It also takes into account the impact of products and waste materials inappropriately deposited.

The auditing process consists of three elements: observation, testing and reporting (see figure 2).

Figure 2 Auditing process

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