Auditing and Recent Developments in IT

Selects two of the recent developments in information technology,and those expected in the near future, which suggest major advances in both human‐computer and computer‐computer communications. Explores the internal control and auditing issues which surround two such technologies – end‐user computing and electronic data interchange(one from each of these categories respectively). Notes the growth of end‐user computing, together with the need to balance control against the trust and creativity which it fosters. This implies the need for a less instrumental and more organizational approach to audit and control. Electronic data interchange provides the opportunity for the further development of paper‐minimal systems and the resulting legal, as well as audit and control, problems are discussed. Concludes by suggesting that there may be a need for a review of audit methodologies which, in principle, remain focused on the large bureaucratic paper‐based systems of the early 1950s.