Abstract

The review highlights the main features of internal audit by focus on distribution of medicinal products. Recent data suggest internal audit as an antidote to effects of economic recession. The present review reveals internal audit as a tool for competitiveness through implementation of good practices.

The purpose of the review is to describe the advantages of internal audit in new institutional frame. The object of analysis is the distribution practice, and more concrete, the wholesale distributors. The analysis was perform by factor analysis and done in response to the tendency for outsource of distribution activities and practical interest in the use of internal audit by implementation of requirements and recommendations for good practices.

The results showed that the internal audit in pharmaceutical industry is determinate by two factors: regulatory requirements and complexity of supply chain. The external and the internal environment define five features of internal audit in pharmaceutical industry.