Helping clients address information technology challenges.

PositionCertified Information Technology Professional - American Institute of Certified Public Accountants - Survey

Current and prospective clients are asking CPAs to help solve information technology problems, according to the 2010 Top Technology Initiatives Survey by the AICPA.

"The tide has really turned this year with the economy and increasing regulations," said Joel Lanz, CPA/ CITP, CFF who serves as co-chairman of the AICPA's Top Technology Initiative task force, along with Ron Box, CPA/CITP, CFF. Lanz added, "Clients are coming to CPAs asking them, 'How do we handle technology risk?' They expect CPAs to know enough to be able to discuss and manage the issues."

Ron Box said, "As small and medium-size companies increasingly place IT under their chief financial officers, it's becoming much more of a broad scope of responsibility. With this survey, we are preparing CPAs for the kinds of IT questions they will most likely confront by giving them resources with answers and tools to address client concerns."

This year's AICPA Top Technology Initiatives Survey is the first to ask AICPA members to rank a list of questions heard most often from audit committees, chief financial officers, and chief information officers. With a renewed focus on IT-related issues, the survey makes clear that CPAs need to be literate about information technology in order to collaborate effectively with clients and their IT partners.

The top 10 most frequently asked questions include the following:

  1. Are we ensuring that our data and technology resources are protected against hacking, viruses, or other compromises?

  2. Are we considering or implementing organizational security precautions even though we haven't had a data breach or loss?

  3. Are our current internal controls and IT governance policies and procedures effective?

  4. Are we receiving the most relevant and current information from our reporting functions (business intelligence, dashboards, etc.) or are there areas for improvement?

  5. Have we implemented sound, appropriate privacy policies and procedures within the organization and for our customers?

  6. Are we appropriately considering the IT risks associated with the organization in an initial planning of any audit or attest engagement?

  7. Are we capturing the appropriate control objectives during the initial planning of any audit or attest engagement to address the IT risks associated with the organization?

  8. Should we refresh our core and financial accounting software to leverage technology efficiencies every few years?

  9. Can our data remain safe if we utilize cloud...

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