Auditing is not just checking whether documentation exists. It is about understanding whether there is real control.

Audits are critical moments: they assess whether the organisation is merely “doing the minimum” or whether it has consistent and mature practices.
However, there are repeated mistakes that can compromise not only the success of the audit, but also the credibility of the entire management structure.

If your organisation prepares for and needs to carry out audits, whether to verify compliance with legal requirements (GDPR, DORA, NIS 2…), international standards and best practices (ISO/IEC 27001, ISO 22301…), or other requirements (customers, partners, suppliers…), this article is for you.

Mistake 1: Treating the audit as a one-off event

Many organisations view the audit as a race against time, only “waking up” a few weeks beforehand.
The result? Stress, improvisation and obvious failures.

What should be done?
plan before improvising — know the audit timetable and criteria in advance (where possible); integrate and apply practices continuously within the organisation’s processes, which helps build a culture of readiness, control and evidence.
The aim is to ensure a high level of organisational preparedness, so that the organisation can demonstrate and respond, at any time, to control mechanisms, including audits, carried out by any internal or external interested parties. The audit and its results are reflections of a living system within a diligent organisation — not a temporary theatre
or a reactive organisation.

Mistake 2: Having documents, but not real practices

Having signed policies and archived procedures does not mean they are used.

What should be done?
ensure that processes are understood and applied.
An experienced auditor looks for consistency between what is written and what is actually done.

Mistake 3: Lack of preparation of people

Employees being caught by surprise, vague answers or “that is with IT, or with area X”, showing improvisation, and/or creating a “ping-pong” system in which some areas push responsibility to others… are all signs of an organisation with a weak governance model and lack of stakeholder involvement.

What should be done?
before the audit, simulate real questions, clarify and reinforce responsibilities and authorities, and explain the why behind the practices and controls.
Security begins with understanding how the tasks performed day to day map to the requirements of the practices and controls that the organisation has to comply with.
Employees must be able to demonstrate that they are applied and provide evidence of the results of their execution.

Mistake 4: Underestimating the organisational context

Many audits fail because the real business risks are not reflected in the management system; this usually happens because the organisation does not truly know itself.
The result? Generic controls with little impact, or even critical practices that are undocumented or non-existent.

What should be done?
align risks, objectives, practices and controls with the organisation’s real context.
Understanding the organisation and its inherent risk is fundamental for risk-based planning.
The audit assesses consistency, relevance and effectiveness, not the volume of documents or IT applications that are used.

Mistake 5: Failing to demonstrate continual improvement

Having the same plan, the same indicators and the same mistakes year after year undermines the credibility of the system.
This shows a lack of a culture of continual improvement in the organisation.
The causes may be varied, from lack of management commitment to resistance to change.

What should be done?
identify improvement drivers, show effective corrective actions, improvement plans and decisions based on management review.

Continual improvement is not optional — it is expected and necessary.
The organisation’s context is dynamic; as such, continual improvement must keep pace with the need for change.

Mistake 6: Ignoring records

Policies and procedures are essential — but without records, there is no proof that anything was actually carried out.

What should be done?
maintain records that are up to date, accessible and consistent with the activities performed.
The auditor will want to see factual evidence — not intentions.
Evidence must be objective, available and verifiable.

Mistake 7: Failing to connect the dots

Audits fail when the pieces do not fit together:
risks do not reflect objectives, controls do not protect critical assets, response plans are not tested.

What should be done?
ensure that the management system is coherent, integrated and business-oriented.
The auditor looks for logic, not complexity.
Meeting requirements through simple and consistent practices demonstrates a mature organisation.
Normally, an organisation that applies practices in a complex or disconnected way demonstrates weak or developing maturity — and the auditor should understand this and recommend improvement of the organisation’s maturity level
through continual improvement.
It should be remembered that the auditor is also an agent of improvement, and the result of the auditor’s work should produce actionable conclusions and recommendations.

What do experienced auditors look for?

• Objective evidence
• An active improvement cycle
• Leadership involvement
• Consistency between narrative, documents and practice
• Real adoption of Best Practices

It is not about pleasing the auditor.
It is about ensuring that the organisation is truly prepared — with or without scheduled audits.

The audit is a reflection of the organisation’s maturity — not a game of what should be shown to, and hidden from, the auditor.

Those who master their system do not fear the audit.
They use it wisely to grow.

At Behaviour, we train outstanding professionals to reach that level of mastery.
The main objective is not only to complete the training and pass the exam — it is to know, to know how to do, and to be able to lead with confidence, transforming uncertainty and doubt into certainty, facts and recognition for both the auditor and the audited organisations.

Author: Behaviour
Published on: 3 November 2025
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