Accounting Information Systems: The Processes and Controls, 2nd Edition

AN OVERVIEW OF INTERNAL CONTROLS FOR IT SYSTEMS (STUDY OBJECTIVE 1)

For all but the smallest organizations, computer systems are critical to ongoing operations. One of the critical functions within IT systems is the accounting information system. As described in Chapter 1, the accounting information system collects, processes, stores, and reports accounting information. Companies, government agencies, and nonprofit organizations all depend heavily on their computerized accounting systems to process transactions, store data, answer inquiries, and monitor operations. IT systems have become so critical that organizations would hardly be able to operate if their IT systems were suddenly to fail. Since IT systems are such a crucial and valuable resource for accounting systems, you should learn and understand the types of threats to which they are vulnerable so that these threats can be minimized. As an analogy, when you park your car in a public garage, you give some thought to whether it is susceptible to theft or vandalism and take some precautions such as locking the door or turning on a car alarm. Likewise, it is important for you to consider possible threats to the IT system and to know how to implement controls to try to prevent those threats from becoming reality. Unchecked threats and risks can lead to events that interrupt or stop computer operations, which can be severely damaging to the organization. Not only can they stop or disrupt normal operations, but they can also lead ...