Is your auditor protecting your confidential data?

✍ Scribed by Abbie Gail Parham; Leslie B. Fletcher; A. Lee Gurley III

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 1998
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 342 KB
• Volume: 9
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 1044-8136
• DOI: 10.1002/jcaf.3970090313

✦ Synopsis

Independent auditors are required to maintain the confidentiality of client-related information. But a published study suggests that accounting firms may not be providing adequate protection for confidential client electronic data on PCs or laptops. The authors detail some key steps CFOs should take to make sure that auditors safeguard sensitive company information.

alk into any business office today and one of the first things you will notice is a PC at every workstation. Notice executives w on business trips and they will more than likely be carrying laptop computers. This increase in the use of personal computers has changed the way information security is evaluated and implemented. Management has always been charged with the responsibility of safeguarding assets. Now assets include more than cash, inventory, and equipment. Systemsmustbedesignedtosafeguardproprietarycompany information (for example, new product developments, market surveys, pricing strategies, and financial projections), confidential customer files, and personnel records and compensation agreements.