System flowcharts depict an electronic job stream of data through the various processing phases of an AIS, and therefore also illustrate audit trails. Each time the records of a file are sorted or updated, for example, a system flowchart should show this in a separate processing step. Generally speaking, this is the way processing proceeds in almost all AISs, one step at a time, and is therefore the way system flowcharts must portray processing phases. In recognizing the usefulness of system flowcharts, both the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA) and the Institute of Management Accountants (IMA) consistently include test questions in their professional examinations, which require a working knowledge of system flowcharts.