Survey reveals holes in IT strategies

Survey reveals holes in IT strategies

A recent survey undertaken by CIPFA throws local authority ITstrategies into question. Douglas Hayward investigates.

Internal auditors are not examining IT operations in local authorities and health authorities thoroughly enough, a major survey will reveal later this month.

The survey of 1,500 organisations by public sector accountants body CIPFA shows 50% of internal auditors working in local government and the NHS are overlooking IT management procedures. Areas such as purchasing and management of computer systems, IT strategy, management of new technology developments, conformance to EU regulations, and assessment of system performance are all being glossed over.

More than 50% of internal audit departments have not reviewed the security of all their IT facilities in the last two years, while 33% have not examined security of departmental systems, and 25% have not looked at the security of central IT systems.

Only one audit department in ten is constantly involved in post-implementation reviews, the survey found. Vernon Poole, IT audit representative on CIPFA’s audit panel, said: ‘I find the statistics on post-implementation reviews frightening. This is one of the main areas where auditors can add value to the organisation. The figures on security reviews make you wonder what they are doing all day.’

Only 20% of internal audit departments have recently reviewed their disaster recovery procedures, while 33% have failed to review virus controls. Almost half neglected to review security of their computer networks, according to the survey.

Auditors at over 25% of organisations with outsourcing contracts are being denied unrestricted access to their systems by their contractors, the survey added.

Most internal audit departments allocate 50 to 200 days a year to computer audit. ‘How you can deliver a solution in just 50 days a year I don’t know,’ Poole said, apportioning the blame, in part, to skills shortages.

‘The number of computer auditors on the market is low. Talk to the external auditors and they’ll tell you it’s hard to recruit them. And when they do, the level of skills they’ve got is an absolute joke compared with what they are able to charge their clients,’ he added.

The survey also found that over 50% of all internal audit departments have not recently carried out technical reviews of their organisation’s network management systems, and more than 33% have not carried out technical reviews of their computer operating systems. Fewer than 50% of departments are using computer-aided auditing techniques, and 79% said they did not intend to use the Internet as a tool.

CIPFA said it will revamp its own computer audit guidelines next year.

In addition, it will produce an executive briefing for non-audit staff and will publish a series of rolling technical briefings for auditors in the public sector. CIPFA will also launch a major training initiative for auditors.

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