ITPEC FE Morning October 2019 Question 60

Mr. A auditing his own department — a member of general affairs examining general affairs' entrance and exit control is auditing his own area.

Independence means the auditor has no organisational tie to, or stake in, the target of the audit. Otherwise the auditor may be judging his own or his colleagues' work, and the result cannot be trusted as impartial. Mr. A belongs to the general affairs department and audits that same department's entrance and exit control; working together with other team members does not remove the conflict, so this assignment must be avoided.

Answer (a)

Why not others:

• •(b) — an audit department member auditing an outside contractor has no tie to it; checking how contractors handle the company's personal information is a normal audit
• •(c) — Mr. C left the information system department five years ago and now audits the marketing department, which he never belonged to; neither creates a conflict
• •(d) — Mr. D only supplies legal expertise at the audit department's request; drawing on specialists is normal, and he is not auditing his own department

Key rule: Test independence by asking whether the auditor belongs to, or is responsible for, the area being audited; expert help and a past post elsewhere do not break it.

System Audit · AI-written, may contain errors