Case-in-Point 1.12 While efficiencies in compliance with requirements of the
Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 will help in the future, the numbers of hours necessary to
document and evaluate internal controls, including IT controls, means more work for those
with IT audit skills. According to 2004 and 2005surveys by the Controllers’ Leadership
Roundtable research, audit fee increases forthe Big Four, in complying with Section 404,
ranged from 78% for Deloitte and Touche to 134%for PricewaterhouseCoopers. Complying
with SOX costs the average large company $7.8 million and 70,000 hours of employee time....
Sometimes the best way to assess the risks associated with a computerized system
is to try to penetrate the system, which is referred to as penetration testing.These
tests are usually conducted within a system’s security audit, in which the organization
attempts to determine the level of vulnerability of their information systems and the impact
such weaknesses might have on the viability ofthe organization. If any security issues are
discovered, the organization will typically work swiftly to correct the problems or at least
mitigate the impact they might have on the company.