Information Technology and Data Analytics
IT governance and controls
IT questions focus on controls that protect data integrity, confidentiality, and availability. Understand general IT controls (access management, change management, backup and recovery, segregation of duties) versus application controls (input, processing, output). Know the purpose of IT general controls in supporting reliable financial reporting, and the concepts of preventive, detective, and corrective controls. Familiarize yourself with cybersecurity basics - authentication, encryption, phishing risks - and business continuity and disaster recovery planning.
Data analytics concepts
Candidates must understand the analytics lifecycle: define the question, collect and clean data, analyze, interpret, and communicate. Know descriptive, diagnostic, predictive, and prescriptive analytics. Understand data quality dimensions (accuracy, completeness, consistency, timeliness), and basic statistical tools - mean, median, variance, correlation versus causation, sampling, and regression at a conceptual level. Recognize common visualization and reporting principles.
Systems and emerging technology
Know the roles of ERP systems, databases, and cloud computing, and the control implications of each. Understand audit data analytics, continuous monitoring, and the risks of automated processing.
Traps
Watch for: confusing correlation with causation; assuming more data is always better (quality matters); treating a detective control as preventive; and overlooking segregation-of-duties conflicts in system access.
Rule of thumb
For any data claim, ask: Is the source reliable? Is the sample representative? Does the analysis support causation or only association? Apply this three-question filter before accepting a conclusion.