What can be done, however, and what is attempted in the following sections, is a general survey of the ways in which computer audits differ from conventional audits. If neither objectives nor principles are involved, the difference can be only a question of audit technique. This does not mean to say that technique is not important. In setting out this difference it has to be kept in mind that there exists an important distinction between computer applications which have been realized up to now, and computer applications which are under development and which will form the principal types of
application in the future.