Communication Media and Information Technology Audits

Communication Media and Information Technology Audits

Introduction

In today’s globalized economy, the need for electronic communication media and use of information technology is continually increasing.  Auditors and their clients are no exception to this growth, as they are both frequently expanding all across the globe to take advantage of untapped markets.  In addition, the increased demand  of communication media coupled with the lowering costs of such technologies have created an enormous surge of opportunity for auditors and clients to take advantage of these fast evolving instruments.  While the globalization of business presents an unlimited amount of potential, one area of communication media that is negatively affected is face-to-face communication, such as business meetings and conferences, especially when the auditor and client are located thousands of miles away from one another, possibly on separate continents.  This can be problematic for both internal and external communication.  To add to this problem, the increased demand for continual reporting of business information pressures the audit firm to communicate the information quickly.  The increased use of communication media has inevitably increased the accuracy and reliability of the information being shared as well.  With all of these changes, increased demands, and uses of electronic communication media comes the need to modify or create new regulations to standardize communication media for information technology audits.  This paper discusses why it is essential to match electronic communication media to audit tasks and how this can benefit IT auditing.

Increased Demand of Communication Media and Information Technology Audit

The increased use of electronic communication media between auditors and clients is expected to rise considerably in the future, as face-to-face meetings will likely  be an inefficient use of time and resources  This is due to technological developments and...