Internal Auditing of Modern Information Systems

Modern information systems (MIS) have increased the variety of information systems which have been and can be designed to such an extent that auditors must finally recognise the Law of Requisite Variety. The auditability of MIS is a double‐edged proposition since the variety of the MIS must be matched by auditors if they want to be recognised as control agents. Thus, either MIS variety must be reduced to match the audit variety achievable or the audit variety must be increased to match the existing MIS variety. In other words, an intelligent interface is needed between auditors and MIS. Auditors require a language and a communication channel to evaluate the internal controls of the MIS as well as the information generated by the MIS.