Assessing Information Technology General Control Risk: An Instructional Case
Carolyn Strand Norman, Mark D. Payne, Valaria P. Vendrzyk · Issues in Accounting Education · 2009
ABSTRACT: Information Technology General Controls (ITGCs), a fundamental category of internal controls, provide an overall foundation for reliance on any information produced by a system. Since the relation between ITGCs and the information produced by an organization's various application programs is indirect, understanding how ITGCs interact and affect an auditor's risk assessment is often challenging for students. This case helps students assess overall ITGC risk within an organization's information systems. Students identify specific strengths and weaknesses within five ITGC areas, provide a risk assessment for each area, and then evaluate an organization's overall level of ITGC risk within the context of an integrated audit.