Question

Auditing an information system requires knowledge of both accounting and information technology. In today's business environment, how much computer and technical skills do you think an auditor should have to be an effective auditor? your initial response should be at least 200 words long.

Answer 1

IT Audit professionals need to have technical and business knowledge to understand the scope of the assignment, conduct the assignment, assess findings and provide value added recommendations to the client. The technical knowledge varies as per the ERP the auditor is auditing. Eg, SAP will require different amount of knowledge when compared to JDE or Peoplesoft. Certifications such as Certified Information Systems Auditor (CISA) and the Certified Information Security Manager^® (CISM^®) demonstrate knowledge and competence of an individual to perform IT Audit. With an ever increasing regulations, rules, acts, standards, industry guidelines, it is imperative that IT auditor aligns business as well technical knowledge. This will not increase the relevance and practicality of IT Audit but also help in addressing the impact of the findings. IT auditing involves application of risk oriented audit approach, use of computer assisted audit tools (caats), assessment of information security and privacy issues etc. A lot of public accounting firms require IT Auditor to begin with financial audit to gain understanding organization’s audit methodologies. Business operations are changing at tremendous pace because of the advancement in technology. It has impacted how audits are conducted. IT Auditing has become integral part of the audit because it supports the judgment of the auditor who is relying on the information processed by the system.