Xploring Information Technology Governance

Many organizations are becoming increasingly depend

ent on information

technology (IT); and integrated information systems

and electronic document

management are becoming more popular each day. Acco

rding to the International

Federation of Accountants (IFAC), “IT encompasses t

he strategic use of

technology to meet corporate goals; investments in

hardware and software

products; the acquisition, development, and impleme

ntation of new systems; the

management and control of data; the management and

control of the transactions

processed; and the management and control of the in

formation produced” (IFAC,

1995).

IT is a critical success factor for an organization

. It provides an organization

with many opportunities to obtain competitive advan

tages such as operational

efficiency, cost savings, reduction of human errors

and it offers a means for

increasing productivity. IT also increases the accu

racy and speed of transaction

processing (Boynton et al., 1994; Rockart al., 1996

; Ross et al., 1996; Broadbent

and Weill, 1997; Sambamurthy and Zmud, 1999; and Ab

u-Musa, 2006a and b). On

the other hand, IT is associated with many types of

risks and threats such as: loss of

computer assets, erroneous record keeping, increase

d risk of fraud, competitive

disadvantage if the wrong IT is selected, loss or t

heft of data, privacy violations,

and business disruption (Warren et al., 1998; Gelin

as et al., 1999; Beasley et al.,

2000; Hermanson et al., 2000; Hadden et al., 2003;

and Abu-Musa, 2006a and b).

According to the Information Technology Governance

Institute (ITGI) (2003) IT is

often seen as a “necessary evil,” but considered de

liberately IT can provide an

organization with good opportunities to add value t

o its...