Co-operatives are advised to carry out regular internal and external audits that include an audit of democratic governance processes. These will help protect members' democratic rights, ensure that democratic governance accords with best practice and stands up to member and external scrutiny.

There is no prescriptive guidance as to how such audits should be carried out or by whom. In some countries (such as Germany, France and Austria) there are legal provisions and a long and successful tradition for compulsory special auditing of co-operatives. However, as a general rule, the manner of the audit will be determined by the size of the co-operative and the nature of the co-operative's business.

Whether done by members or appointed auditors, the audit should report against relevant external good governance codes and good governance standards. The audit report and any recommendations in it should be made available and considered by all members in general meeting.

Some national co-operative federations or apex organisations and Alliance sectoral organisations have developed standard guidance and procedures for governance audits and democratic health checks that meet the circumstances of their member co-operatives. The advantage of using such standard procedures for carrying out governance audits is that they permit co-operatives to compare their own governance performance with their peers.

There are no set time frames for carrying out a governance audit. Some co-operatives that recognise the need to consistently examine their transparent management and democratic governance processes carry out governance audits every two years. However, co-operatives ought to be concerned if a regular co-operative specific audit that includes a review of democratic governance has not been carried out within the last five years.