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IT Service Management and Systems Audit

A systems auditor is gathering audit evidence on whether the records of payments to business partners are correct. Which of the following is generally considered the audit evidence with the highest probative value?

  1. AAn oral explanation from a staff member of the audited department that "the processing is done correctly"
  2. BThe result of matching the balance confirmation replies that the systems auditor obtained directly from the business partners against the system's records
  3. CA summary table of processing results newly prepared by the audited department for the audit
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Answer: B. The result of matching the balance confirmation replies that the systems auditor obtained directly from the business partners against the system's records

The probative value of audit evidence is generally considered higher when it is obtained from an independent party outside the audited department, when the auditor obtains or verifies it directly, and when it exists as documents or records rather than orally. The result of matching replies obtained directly by the auditor from the business partners against the system's records satisfies these conditions. An oral explanation, or a summary prepared by the audited department for the audit, is weak support on its own and must be confirmed with other evidence.

  • A. An oral explanation leaves no record and is only the audited department's assertion, so its probative value is low.
  • B. Correct. Evidence obtained directly by the auditor from an outside party is matched against the records.
  • C. It is material prepared by the audited department, and without matching it to the original records it is weak support.
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More IT Service Management and Systems Audit questions

  1. Which of the following describes an audit trail appropriately?
  2. Among the techniques of systems auditing, which of the following describes the test data method appropriately?
  3. Which audit technique sets up a fictitious customer account for audit purposes in a sales system and processes audit data against that account at the same time as normal business processing, in order to check the results?
  4. A systems auditor used generalized audit software to extract duplicated invoice numbers and transactions over the approval limit from a year's worth of transaction data (several million records) in a sales system. Which of the following is an appropriate advantage of using computer-assisted audit techniques (CAAT) in this way?
  5. In a systems audit, which of the following does the systems auditor mainly use as the yardstick for judging whether an organization's management of its information systems is appropriate?