Individual Audit Program FAQs

Selection Criteria

• How do you determine who is selected for an audit?

  Each month, a group of registrants is randomly selected for an audit in line with the Bylaws (including Section 8.6(2)) and the random selection criteria approved by the Audit and Practice Review Committee.  

  Program staff use a random selection tool that chooses registrants from amongst the pool of all registrants who are eligible for audits. The random selection process is purposefully kept separate from other regulatory processes, including investigation and discipline proceedings, to ensure the program is proactive and objective. 

  For the first year of the program (July 2023 - June 2024), the random selection criteria is 95% practising registrants and 5% non-practising registrants. In future years, individual audit program findings and other trends may be considered to update the random selection criteria.

• How does Engineers and Geoscientists BC ensure that the audit selection is random?
  The random selection process is automated, and a set number of auditees are randomly drawn out of the pool of registrants meeting the selection criteria. Staff do not manually choose auditees.
• Why do you audit non-practising and retired registrants?
  This is generally a check to confirm that the registrant is not engaging in the reserved practice of professional engineering and/or geoscience.

Exemptions

• I reside/work outside of BC, do I qualify for an exemption?
  If you reside and/or work outside of BC, you should still fill out the audit questionnaire as completely as you are able. Your assessor will review the submitted information to determine how to proceed with the audit. 

Miscellaneous

• Do audits count as a Continuing Education activity?

  In keeping with what counts as a CE Hour (see Section 3.1.1 of the Guide to the Continuing Education Program), audits can be counted towards your CE Hours provided that you:  

  • find the process relevant to your area and industry of practice and 
  • feel that the process has contributed to the development or maintenance of your professional skills or knowledge. 

  When recording CE Hours, registrants should record one CE Hour for each hour of learning from the audit process; this could include time spent during preparation, interviews, and taking action based on the results of the audit. 

• Does Engineers and Geoscientist BC share my audit report and findings with my firm, once the audit is completed?
  No, Engineers and Geoscientist BC does not share audit findings or the audit report with your firm. Except where obligated to do so in accordance with legal or ethical duties, Engineers and Geoscientists BC will not release any information related to a registrant’s compliance audit to a third party.
• My firm’s files are confidential and cannot be shared externally. Do I qualify for an exemption?
  Please fill out the audit questionnaire and identify any known confidentiality issues where applicable. Your assessor will review the submitted information to determine how to proceed with the audit.