Guide helps enterprises design and implement key controls

Recent international regulations have placed the need for monitoring internal controls at the top of the boardroom agenda. Having controls in place is a basic business requirement, but it is no longer enough.

Controls break down over time, they don’t always operate as designed, and they often fail to keep up with businesses as they, and their operations and strategies, change. Monitoring these internal controls allows management to be alerted quickly about factors that can have significant effects on their businesses.

Monitoring Internal Control Systems and IT, a new publication from ISACA, helps enterprises design and implement monitoring processes of key controls to reach their business goals and objectives.

It provides practical guidance on how to monitor IT controls and how to apply IT to support and sustain monitoring activities. The publication also examines continuous monitoring and how it can lead to quicker detection of control failures, resulting in saved time and expense.

Even though automated monitoring of controls can bring significant benefits, enterprises still face challenges including complex IT environments, key controls that are difficult to identify, and the difficulty of data extraction and analysis. Monitoring Internal Control Systems and IT offers a road map to help organizations address these challenges.

The ISACA publication offers case studies and examples to clearly illustrate how an enterprise can implement automated IT monitoring activities to address other business problems and even identify the root cause behind ineffective controls. It also offers practical tools such as a sample worksheet that helps professionals develop a strategy on how best to leverage automation to monitor key controls.

Monitoring Internal Control Systems and IT is available as a free download to ISACA members
here. Nonmembers can purchase an e-book for US $50 or a print edition for US $70.