An audit program is first and foremost a verification program. It is not meant to replace existing environmental management systems at the corporate (e.g., regulatory updating), division (e.g., capital planning for pollution control expenditures) or plant (e.g., NPDES discharge monitoring) levels. Indeed, the program should be designed to verify that these environmental management systems do, in fact, exist and are in use. However, these benefits of audit can be offset by some real and potential costs including:

Early in the development of the program, corporate management should designate a senior executive or staff member as the audit program director. This director should be senior enough to establish and maintain the program's:

In assessing whether to accept a client for an audit engagement, a, auditor should consider the:

A "clean" environmental audit:

Environmental legislation is designed to: