The Assessment of the iso 9001 Internal Audit Effects in the Case of the Company Mercator, plc.

The purpose of this study is to get empirical data about the assessed contribution of an iso 9001 internal audit to fulfil the company goals and in this way improve its efficiency. The empirical study in the case of Mercator, plc. is based on the analytically proven hypothesis taken from a former research. The first hypothesis (H1) assumes that internal audits contribute to the fulfilment of company goals and in this way contribute to company efficiency. The other hypothesis (H2) suggests that internal audits have more positive than negative effects upon business performance of a company. The study concluded that the internal audit in Mercator had generally more positive than negative effects upon business performance of the company. Respondents also realized that the internal audit considerably contributed to the fulfilment of company goals and to better efficiency. The results of the empirical study in Mercator support both hypotheses used as the research starting-point. Therefore the case of Mercator supports the statement that an internal audit which is primarily a quality management tool according to iso 9001 requests could also contribute to better business performance and company efficiency. The empirical outcomes could help quality managers as a reference data for benchmarking of internal audits and their effects in various environments. Further empirical research including additional internal audit cases (from other environments) would be welcome. The results of these audits could support the development of a wider benchmark database and it could in addition give a stronger support to the hypotheses presented in this article.