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KPMG's 2009 IT Internal Audit Survey
Many organizations face a continually changing set of pressures and dynamics in the current economic climate. Faced with shrinking markets, they can choose to rationalize, merge or contract. The technology thread which holds systems and processes together is at risk. As a consequence, IT Internal Audit plays an integral role in maintaining discipline and rigor across functions and geographies.
But how well IT audit responds to changing business parameters is, to some extent, contingent on the authority it commands within the organization and the influence it wields at executive and board level. Internal Audit should seek to raise its profile if it is to be taken seriously as a governance and enforcement tool.
How does it do that? As our survey reveals, Internal Audit should have a direct line to executive management and the Audit Committee. By cascading top level opinion on the value and content of Internal Audit’s outputs and by communicating information on the issues that affect the business, the function can heighten its visibility.
To maintain that position, it needs to develop a closer relationship with the business while maintaining its independence and objectivity. It also needs to work in closer cooperation with the wider audit function to leverage understanding and efficiency. This powerful combination of technical and business know-how, underpinned by an understanding of operational and technology risk, can turn the function from cost centre to value builder.
IT audit as a discipline is maturing. To compete in this new and threatening environment, it needs to standardize, automate and speed up its analysis and reporting. It has to become more economic and efficient by reducing costs and using tools that improve the effectiveness and reliability of its output and its compliance and control.
The bar is raised. This survey reveals how companies across Europe, the Middle East and Africa are equipped to cope in an economy under pressure.
For more information and insight on survey results, please feel free to download the Adobe PDF version of the report.
How does it do that? As our survey reveals, Internal Audit should have a direct line to executive management and the Audit Committee. By cascading top level opinion on the value and content of Internal Audit’s outputs and by communicating information on the issues that affect the business, the function can heighten its visibility.
To maintain that position, it needs to develop a closer relationship with the business while maintaining its independence and objectivity. It also needs to work in closer cooperation with the wider audit function to leverage understanding and efficiency. This powerful combination of technical and business know-how, underpinned by an understanding of operational and technology risk, can turn the function from cost centre to value builder.
IT audit as a discipline is maturing. To compete in this new and threatening environment, it needs to standardize, automate and speed up its analysis and reporting. It has to become more economic and efficient by reducing costs and using tools that improve the effectiveness and reliability of its output and its compliance and control.
The bar is raised. This survey reveals how companies across Europe, the Middle East and Africa are equipped to cope in an economy under pressure.
For more information and insight on survey results, please feel free to download the Adobe PDF version of the report.
130678_it_audit_survey_web_accessible.pdf, Size: 868.3 KB© 2010 KPMG Safi Al-Mutawa & Partners, a Kuwait partnership and a member firm of the KPMG network of independent member firms affiliated with KPMG International Cooperative ("KPMG International"), a Swiss entity. All rights reserved.
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