History
The UK government created the Ministry of Munitions, which placed inspectors in factories to ensure procedures were being followed. In 1919, the institute was first known as the Technical Inspection Association. The institute began with 500 members and was originally headquartered at its secretary's office at 44 Bedford Row, London WC1. On 10 November 1922, the Technical Inspection Association reformed as the Institution of Engineering Inspection. In 1929, the institute's branch network was formed.
In 1954, the British Productivity Council proposed either the formation of a Society for Quality Control, or that quality control should be incorporated as a branch of an existing society. The institute's council agreed. On 22 December 1955, a general meeting approved changes to the constitution. The institute began to consider offering professional qualifications in 1958. By the autumn of 1960, the institute had formed an education committee. Examinations started in the summer of 1960 with nine candidates.
In 1965, the council gave a change in name approval by 17 votes to 0. In 1972, the institute changed its name to Institute of Quality Assurance. In the 1990s, British Quality Foundation broke away from the IQA to form the British Quality Foundation. This was a result of the Henderson Committee report, which recommended a quality award for industry in the UK, following the success of the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award in the US.
An audit is an "independent examination of financial information of any entity, whether profit oriented or not, irrespective of its size or legal form when such an examination is conducted with a view to express an opinion thereon." Auditing also attempts to ensure that the books of accounts are properly maintained by the concern as required by law. Auditors consider the propositions before them, obtain evidence, roll forward prior year working papers, and evaluate the propositions in their auditing report.
A financial audit is conducted to provide an opinion whether "financial statements" are stated in accordance with specified criteria. Normally, the criteria are international accounting standards, although auditors may conduct audits of financial statements prepared using the cash basis or some other basis of accounting appropriate for the organization. In providing an opinion whether financial statements are fairly stated in accordance with accounting standards, the auditor gathers evidence to determine whether the statements contain material errors or other misstatements.
Quality assurance (QA) is the term used in both manufacturing and service industries to describe the systematic efforts taken to assure that the product(s) delivered to customer(s) meet with the contractual and other agreed upon performance, design, reliability, and maintainability expectations of that customer. The core purpose of Quality Assurance is to prevent mistakes and defects in the development and production of both manufactured products, such as automobiles and shoes, and delivered services, such as automotive repair and athletic shoe design. Assuring quality and therefore avoiding problems and delays when delivering products or services to customers is what ISO 9000 defines as that "part of quality management focused on providing confidence that quality requirements will be fulfilled". This defect prevention aspect of quality assurance differs from the defect detection aspect of quality control and has been referred to as a shift left since it focuses on quality efforts earlier in product development and production and on avoiding defects in the first place rather than correcting them after the fact.
Hazard analysis and critical control points, or HACCP, is a systematic preventive approach to food safety from biological, chemical, and physical hazards in production processes that can cause the finished product to be unsafe and designs measures to reduce these risks to a safe level. In this manner, HACCP attempts to avoid hazards rather than attempting to inspect finished products for the effects of those hazards. The HACCP system can be used at all stages of a food chain, from food production and preparation processes including packaging, distribution, etc. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) require mandatory HACCP programs for juice and meat as an effective approach to food safety and protecting public health. Meat HACCP systems are regulated by the USDA, while seafood and juice are regulated by the FDA. All other food companies in the United States that are required to register with the FDA under the Public Health Security and Bioterrorism Preparedness and Response Act of 2002, as well as firms outside the US that export food to the US, are transitioning to mandatory hazard analysis and risk-based preventive controls (HARPC) plans.
The British Computer Society (BCS), branded BCS, The Chartered Institute for IT, since 2009, is a professional body and a learned society that represents those working in information technology (IT), computing, software engineering, computer engineering and computer science, both in the United Kingdom and internationally. Founded in 1957, BCS has played an important role in educating and nurturing IT professionals, computer scientists, software engineers, computer engineers, upholding the profession, accrediting Chartered IT Professional (CITP) and Chartered Engineer (CEng) status, and creating a global community active in promoting and furthering the field and practice of computing.
The Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA) is the global professional accounting body offering the Chartered Certified Accountant qualification (CCA). Founded in 1904, It is now the fourth-largest professional accounting body in the world, with 252,500 members and 526,000 student members. ACCA's headquarters are in London with principal administrative office in Glasgow. ACCA works through a network of over 110 offices and centres in 51 countries - with 346 Approved Learning Partners (ALP) and more than 7,600 Approved Employers worldwide, who provide employee development.
The South African Institute of Chartered Accountants (SAICA), South Africa’s pre-eminent accountancy body, is widely recognised as one of the world’s leading accounting institutes. The institute provides a wide range of support services to more than 48,000 members and associates who are chartered accountants (CAs(SA)), as well as associate general accountants (AGAs(SA)) and accounting technicians (ATs(SA)).
The Institute of Chartered Accountants of India, abbreviated as ICAI, is India's largest professional accounting body under the administrative control of Ministry of Corporate Affairs, Government of India. It was established on 1 July 1949 as a statutory body under the Chartered Accountants Act, 1949 enacted by the Parliament for promotion, development and regulation of the profession of Chartered Accountancy in India.
The Financial Reporting Council (FRC) is an independent regulator in the UK and Ireland based in London Wall in the City of London, responsible for regulating auditors, accountants and actuaries, and setting the UK's Corporate Governance and Stewardship Codes. The FRC seeks to promote transparency and integrity in business by aiming its work at investors and others who rely on company reports, audits and high-quality risk management.
Internal auditing is an independent, objective assurance and consulting activity designed to add value and improve an organization's operations. It helps an organization accomplish its objectives by bringing a systematic, disciplined approach to evaluate and improve the effectiveness of risk management, control and governance processes. Internal auditing might achieve this goal by providing insight and recommendations based on analyses and assessments of data and business processes. With commitment to integrity and accountability, internal auditing provides value to governing bodies and senior management as an objective source of independent advice. Professionals called internal auditors are employed by organizations to perform the internal auditing activity.
Westminster Kingsway College is a large college for further education in central London with centres in King's Cross in Camden, together with Victoria and Soho centres in Westminster. Founded in 2000 and having origins dating back to 1910, the college is part of Capital City College Group, alongside City and Islington College and The College of Haringey, Enfield and North East London. Altogether, the group have over 25,000 enrolled students as of 2020. Westminster Kingsway College provides further, adult and higher education programmes, including full-time and part-time vocational, professional and academic courses at different levels.
The Arab Knowledge and Management Society (AKMS) is a Jordan-based regional non-profit association, established and chaired by Talal Abu-Ghazaleh, chairman and Founder of Talal Abu-Ghazaleh Organization (Tagorg).
City College Coventry was a further education college based in the city of Coventry, England. It was formed in 2002 through the merger of two previous colleges in the city, although through them it has roots going back to the 19th century. It was one of three further education colleges within the city boundaries, alongside Henley College and Hereward College. The college caters for 12,000 students and occupies a purpose-built campus in the Swanswell area of Coventry. In 2017 City College merged with Henley College to form Coventry College.
The chief audit executive (CAE), director of audit, director of internal audit, auditor general, or controller general is a high-level independent corporate executive with overall responsibility for internal audit.
Higher education accreditation is a type of quality assurance process under which services and operations of post-secondary educational institutions or programs are evaluated to determine if applicable standards are met. If standards are met, accredited status is granted by the agency.
Nigel Howard Croft is a globally recognized authority on quality management and conformity assessment. He retired as Chairman of the ISO Joint Technical Coordination Group for Management System Standards in December 2023 after serving a three-year term, having been appointed by ISO's Technical Management Board in December 2020. During his tenure, he coordinated the deployment of the ISO London Declaration on Climate Action into all ISO Management System Standards, requiring organizations that implement these standards to determine the extent to which climate change can affect their results and the ways in which their activities can have a impact on climate change. This can then lead to the implementation of risk-based adaptation and mitigation strategies. Dr Croft was previously Chair of the ISO Technical Committee TC 176/SC 2 from February 2010 until December 2018, with overall responsibility for the ISO 9001 standard, used worldwide as a basis for certification of quality management systems, and the ISO 9004 guidelines standard aimed at improving organisational performance, among others. In 2019 and 2020 he led the revision of "Annex SL" of the ISO Directives, that forms the basis for over 40 management system standards including those on environmental management, Occupational Health and Safety, Information Security, Anti-bribery, Food Safety, Artificial Intelligence and many more.
The Institute of Food Science & Technology (IFST) is an independent qualifying body for food professionals based in the UK that is concerned with all aspects of food science and technology.
The New Zealand Organisation for Quality (NZOQ), originally the New Zealand Organisation for Quality Assurance (NZOQA), is a non-partisan incorporated society dedicated to improving the quality of goods and services in New Zealand and providing leadership in the adoption of the principles of quality management and best practice.
