This chapter provides an introduction to IT auditing. It discusses IT governance and the role of ensuring strategic alignment of IT with business objectives. It also covers the systems development life cycle (SDLC) process and phases. The chapter defines different types of information systems and the role of IT auditors in assessing risks and controls over IT resources. It outlines the skills and certifications needed for IT auditors and how IT audits are structured.

1. 1
Chapter One
Introduction to IT Auditing

2. 2
Outline
 IT Governance
 The Systems Development Life Cycle (SDLC)
 Types of Information Systems
 The Role of the IT Auditor

3. 3
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.

4. 4
Strategic Alignment

5. 5
Information Criteria
 CIA Triangle
– Confidentialilty
– Integrity
– Availability
 Cobit “add-ons”
– Effectiveness
– Efficiency
– Compliance
– Reliability

6. 6
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

7. 7
Systems development life cycle (SDLC)
 Provides overall framework for managing
system development process
 All projects use some variation of SDLC
– Phases are sequential but may include some
overlap
– May even include iterations of some or all of the
phases

8. 8
Phases of the Systems
Development Lifecycle (SDLC)
 Project planning: initiate, ensure feasibility,
plan schedule, obtain approval for project
 Analysis: understand business needs and
processing requirements
 Design: define solution system based on
requirements and analysis decisions
 Implementation: construction, testing, user
training, and installation of new system
 Support: keep system running and improve

9. 9
Systems development life cycle (SDLC)
 In COBIT, these phases (domains) are:
– Plan and Organize (PO)
– Acquire and Implement (AI)
– Deliver and Support (DS)
– Monitor and Evaluate (ME)

10. 10
Types of Information Systems

11. 11
Message Transmission Example

12. 12
Types of Information Systems
 Information Systems include not only hardware and
software but…
– People
– Procedures*
– Data
 In Cobit, these “assets” include
– People
– Applications (like software)
– Technology (like hardware)
– Facilities
– Data
* Note: Procedures (processes) are “subsets” of the domains in CobiT

13. 13
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

14. 14
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

15. 15
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

16. 16
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

17. 17
Professional Groups and
Certifications – Alphabet Soup
 ISACA – CISA/CISM
 IIA – CIA
 ACFE – CFE
 AICPA – CPA and CITP

18. 18
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

19. 19
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