IPA IP 2025 Question 51
A question IPA Japan published in 令和7年度 ITパスポート試験 公開問題 問51, translated into English. ITPEC is based on the same exams.
When an internal audit is performed on an accounting system that is developed and operated in-house, which of the following is the most appropriate as a system auditor?
Explanation
An employee of an organization directly under the management, with knowledge of accounting and IT — a system auditor must be independent of the system audited and competent to judge it.
Independence means the auditor takes no part in developing, operating or using the system under audit, in organisation as well as in mind. An internal audit organisation that reports directly to the management stands outside the accounting and information system departments, so its findings go to the top unfiltered. Knowledge of accounting and IT gives the professional competence needed to evaluate the controls of an accounting system.
Answer (d)
Why not others:
- •(a) — the operations staff would evaluate their own operation; a self-review lacks independence
- •(b) — the company that developed the system would be checking its own work, so it is not independent of the audit subject
- •(c) — the accounting staff use the system daily and belong to the department whose work it supports, so they are not independent either
Key rule: A system auditor is independent of the audited system’s development, operation and use, and has the knowledge to evaluate it; an audit unit under top management meets both.
System Audit · AI-written, may contain errors
This question comes from the past questions IPA Japan publishes, translated into English by ITPEC Practice. ITPEC Practice is an independent study tool and is not affiliated with IPA or ITPEC. See the original paper (PDF) or Report an issue.