The evaluation of the evidence and documentation of a company’s overall aspects is done through auditing. Such auditing comprises internal auditing, SEO audits, digital marketing audits, financial statements and audits, and IT audits. An IT audit promptly is essential since IT has become an indispensable component of a company. In actuality, security considerations are the reason for an IT audit. We’ll delve more into the topic of” the importance of IT auditing” in this blog.
What is an IT audit?
An information technology audit or IT audit thoroughly examines the management controls within an Information technology (IT) infrastructure. The IT audit reports serve as evidence for the current status of the IT aspects and further determine if the information systems are perfectly doing their job of keeping the assets safe, maintaining data integrity, and operating effectively to achieve the organisation’s goals or objectives. These audits can be performed along with the financial statement, internal, or audits.
Types of IT audit
In general, there are 6 types of IT audits. Let’s look at them in detail.
- Technological position audit covers the current status of the business and what can be added for profits and better IT management.
- A systems and Applications Audit is done to verify systems and applications are appropriate, efficient, and adequately controlled.
- Information Processing Audit covers the controlled and efficient processing of applications under normal and potentially disruptive conditions.
- A Systems Development Audit is done to ensure that the systems are developed according to standards for systems development.
- Management of IT and Enterprise Architecture Audit is done to ensure a controlled and efficient environment for information processing.
- Client/Server, Intranets, and Extranets Audit cover audits to verify that telecommunications controls are in place on the client, server, and the network connecting the clients and servers.
What does the IT auditing report have?
A good IT Audit report has the following things;
- IT Audit report abides by the systematic process of proper IT Audit planning.
- IT audit reports must provide details about the business and industry, the prior year’s audit results, recent financial information, regulatory statutes, and inherent risk assessments.
- Detailed information on five areas: Control environment, Control procedures, detection risk assessment, control risk assessment, and equate total risk.
- It must have perfectly balanced IT audit strategies of a)compliance testing and b)substantive testing.
- The IT audit must address management’s objectives for the system and further ensure efficiency and effectiveness.
- An IT audit report should be structured with a) An introduction or Executive Summary, b)Findings, and c) the Auditor’s overall conclusion and opinion on the status of controls examined and any potential risks.
Most importantly, during an IT audit, if an IT auditor comes across a materially significant finding, it should be communicated to management immediately; one should not till the end of the audit.
5 importance of IT auditing for your business 2024
Any company operating successfully is making a significant investment in IT; thus, proper checking and IT audits are more than crucial. The necessity of conducting IT audits is to understand the potential risks and the loopholes in the organisation’s IT aspects.
Further, an IT audit gives an organisation a clear strategy on how to action those risks, whether they can be eliminated, mitigated, or tempered by the use of proper controls. In 2024, the hybrid functioning of companies is found, and hence, we will look into the importance of IT audit in 2024 in detail.
-
To evaluate the company’s system’s internal control design and effectiveness.
An IT audit is required to examine development procedures, security protocols, and efficiency. Although crucial, installing controls alone won’t guarantee appropriate security. If there has been a security breach, audits are a very effective way to find out what steps can be taken to stop it from happening again. The independent and objective observers must be able to respond to these control designs.
-
To evaluate the systems that are in place to guard an organization’s information.
In order to secure an organization’s most sensitive data and prevent any digital data leaks, an IT system must be in good working order. In order to assess an organization’s capacity to safeguard its information assets and properly disseminate information to authorized parties, IT audits are required.
-
To know the company’s availability.
Here, availability refers to the organization’s computer systems being available for use by the business whenever necessary. Here, the IT auditors place their attention on checking both the hardware and software status of the machine. This is crucial since a sudden disturbance could result in the worst-case scenario, which includes mishaps or even the total destruction of a computer or server.
-
To ensure security and confidentiality.
Security and confidentiality are standards for IT businesses, and as a result, necessary measures such as permitted use, password distribution, and system access are taken into account. Most importantly, an IT auditor will pay attention to how the provided information is used in the systems and if it is shared with only authorized users or even unauthorised staff. We can see that the hacking component is adequately covered here.
-
To measure the company’s integrity.
An IT audit process always focuses on the accurate, dependable, and prompt services provided by the company to employees. IT auditors perform audits on a number of digitalised operations, such as replacing paper and people with electronic equivalents and tracking leave forms, team meetings, and other paper-based procedures. Aside from that, an IT audit focuses on the full spectrum of integrity issues that affect an organization and the necessary measures to address them properly.
All in all, the IT audit function exists to weed out any inaccuracies or inefficiencies within both the organisation’s management and the way it conducts itself as a business.
5 Salient Features of a Quality IT Audit
A quality audit is often undertaken by an internal or external quality auditor or audit team at predetermined intervals to make sure that a business has a clearly defined system for quality monitoring.
The following things are to be expected with a high-quality IT audit:
- Routinely Cybersecurity checks as there has been a massive increase in ransomware attacks and fraud cases. Further, the status of antivirus software, updates in company software and app, encryption on drives, and employees’ training on spotting errors are covered under the cybersecurity of an IT audit.
- For any kind of organization, a disaster recovery strategy is crucial. In order to solve physical technology problems or a security breach or to plan for them, a high-quality IT audit never misses the topic of disaster recovery plans.
- After the COVID-19 pandemic, a vast majority of offices shifted to home to work remotely, and at present, the hybrid work mode- physical and work from home is implemented. Thus, a good IT audit must clearly cover effectiveness in successfully doing their job, both in the office and at home.
- A good IT audit must always be structured with the proper data and findings, along with a strong, efficient recommendation.
- IT audit also includes an assessment of your company’s physical technologies. They properly assess your company’s computers, laptops, tablets, phones, point-of-sale systems, and more.
What to look for when hiring an IT auditor?
Any company may perform the IT audit by themselves, but when they don’t want to perform an IT audit themselves, the better option will be to hire an IT auditor or IT audit company.
An IT auditor or IT audit company provides you with accurate status on security protocols, software, regular checks or auditing, and the risk of cyber attacks or data breaches. You may have fixed all of the issues, but auditing is a continuous process that you will need in upcoming regular intervals.
When you hire an IT auditor, you will need to check on them and see if they have the following aspects covered:
- Understand key IT activities and processes
- Clear process of analysis of IT or tech-related systems
- In-depth knowledge and information on IT audit and business
- Results of the previously conducted audits
- The recent financial information about the audits
- Regulatory statutes
- A result of risk assessments
- Staying up-to-date with the latest developments in IT and tech
- Mitigate risks or draw attention to IT audits
- Be good communicators, impartial and objective
- An IT audit must predict future or potential risks for the company
All in all, an IT auditor is accountable for providing a complete report for small or large businesses. And further, they ensure the value and credit rating for the company’s IT aspects.
NSWIT- Your Ultimate IT Support Company in Sydney
Either after IT auditing, you must seek an IT support company that will provide you with a detailed service in all kinds of IT-related issues, including network setup, database management, and cloud computing, and eventually ensure all IT-related functions are working seamlessly.
When searching for an IT support company in Sydney, you can find NSW IT Support as we are business and technical expertise to enable organisations with IT support for the creation, management, and optimization of information and business processes. Further, we offer you managed IT support, project management, virtualisation, business internet, IT infrastructure upgrade, and a help desk.
If you are looking for the best IT support in Sydney, Australia, then you can contact us.
