[Anonymous]

I currently do external auditing for a regional firm. I have noticed a lot of job postings on the Big 4 website for IT auditing. If you currently are in this field, please tell me everything about your job. What is an average day like? How much travel is involved? What are the tasks you perform? How do accounting knowledge and IT knowledge combine, is it more important to have knowledge of accounting or computer science? anything else..

Thanks!

[lauryate]

Hi, I'm a staff level IT auditor that started last year at a national firm. From my personal experience, IT audit relies less on accounting knowledge, and more heavily on information system knowledge (but not exactly computer science). We look at systems at like the GL and determine whether the controls over the system are strong enough that the external auditors can rely on the output of the system. So, it's more about understanding the system settings and testing access to the systems.

The average tasks that I perform would be reading through the system reports and IT policies, pulling samples and performing testing, doing walkthroughs and interviews with clients, etc. I'd say that I travel about a third of the time, but a majority of the engagements are for 1 or 2 weeks because the work is less extensive than for external audit teams.

Kinda just through together an overview, but if you have any more specific questions, let me know!

AUD - 85
BEC - 88
FAR - 88
REG - 5/10/2013

[Anonymous]

Thank you for replying,

Was your college background accounting or information systems or a combination? If there is not much accounting knowledge needed then are you pursuing a CPA to leave IT behind( do you like IT? I get really burnt out from external which is why im looking to switch..)? What sort of exit options exist?

Thanks again!

[lauryate]

I double majored in accounting and information systems. My main reason for getting my CPA now is that I just graduated, and the information is fresh. Also, if I want to become a partner one day, it's better to have to be a CPA. I think that as you move up the ranks, having accounting knowledge becomes more useful because you're thinking about the audit more conceptually and dealing with the AICPA.

So far I like IT. I think its a field that would be harder to burn out in because we don't operate under the hard deadlines of accountants and because we don't need to work on each client for multiple weeks. Moving from client to client every week makes it easier to put the bad ones behind you. Also, I spend more of my time doing financial audit related work, but we also do SSAE 16 reports and IT General Control assessments and some PCI/HIPAA work. So there's a little more variety in the field (at least the way my firm is set up)

I don't think I can really address your question about exit options, too much of a rookie to know about that.

I would suggest that you check out the ISACA website (kinda the AICPA equivalent). After I pass the CPA, I'm going to do the CISA (Certified Information Systems Auditor). There might be more information on the ISACA website about career options for CISAs.

AUD - 85
BEC - 88
FAR - 88
REG - 5/10/2013

[Author]

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