Chapter One

Introduction to IT Auditing
 IT Governance
…the process for controlling an
organization’s IT resources, including
information and communication systems,
and technology.

…using IT to promote an organization’s

objectives and enable business processes
and to manage and control IT related
risks.
 CobiT’s IT Governance
Management Guideline
Identifies critical success factors,
key goal and performance indicators,
and an IT governance maturity
model.
IT governance framework begins
with setting IT objectives and
measures and compares performance
against them
 IT and Transaction (Tx)
Processing
 The IS collects transaction data
 The IS turns data into information
 Computerized Tx systems increase some
risks and decrease others
 What do IT auditors do?
 Ensure IT governance by assessing risks
and monitoring controls over those risks
 Works as either internal or external auditor
 Works on many kind of audit engagements
 Financial vs IT Audits
 IT auditors may work on financial audit
engagements
 IT auditors may work on every step of the
financial audit engagement
 Standards, such as SAS No. 94, guide the work of
IT auditors on financial audit engagements
 IT audit work on financial audit engagements is
likely to increase as internal control evaluation
becomes more important
 IT Audit Skills
 College education – IS, computer science,
accounting
 Certifications – CPA, CFE, CIA, CISA,
CISSP, and special technical certifications
 Technical IT audit skills – specialized
technologies
 General personal and business skills
 Professional Groups and
Certifications – Alphabet Soup
 ISACA – CISA
 IIA – CIA
 ACFE – CFE
 AICPA – CPA and CITP
 How to Structure an IT Audit
 AICPA Standards and Guidelines – GAAS,
SAS, and SSAE
 IFAC Guidelines – harmonized or common
international accounting standards and
guidelines
 ISACA standards, guidelines, and
procedures – includes CobiT and audit
standards
 An Overview of the Book
 Section I – an introduction to IT audit, the legal
and ethical environment of the IT audit,
introduction to risks and controls
 Section II – risks over specific processes and
technologies – deployment of IS, operation of IS,
network systems, and e-business systems
 Section III – how to do an It audit – use of
CAATTs and a step-by-step IT audit
 Appendices – ACL tutorial and IT audit glossary