A multilateral seminar «IT Audit: current trends and challenges» was held on June 28, 2021. The event was attended by the SAIs of Australia, Bahrain, India, Japan, Russia and the UK representatives.

The meeting was moderated by Mr. Timur Makhmutov, Director of the Department for International and Regional Cooperation.

The Russian side was represented by Mr. Yury Ursu, Director of the Department of Digital Development and Government Support for Entrepreneurship Audit of the Accounts Chamber of the Russian Federation.  He presented a report on the inventory of government information systems carried out in 2020. The purpose of the inventory was to assess the compliance of existing information systems with requirements and recommendations of the Russian legislation, and to ensure that information systems are fully accounted for. State authorities on federal and regional levels, as well as organizations controlled by them, were the subjects of the inventory, while developed or acquired information systems were the objects.

"As a result of the inventory, 1392 owners of objects were identified, with 67 federal authorities and 303 subordinate institutions on the federal level, 701 regional authorities and 321 subordinate institutions on the regional level. The inventory listed 4129 information systems, where 826 were on the federal level and 3303 on the regional one, as well as 166 data centers, of them 22 federal and 144 regional ones,”

commented Yury Ursu.

The following speakers also presented their reports:

• Vikash Kumar, Director (Research & IT Audit), International Centre for Information Systems and Audit (ICISA), Office of the Comptroller and Auditor General of India. Topic: “IT audit: current trends and challenges”;
• Fujii Hideki, Senior Director, Information and Communication Audit Division, Board of Audit of Japan. Topic: “Audit Results on Government Information Systems”;
• Peter Smithson, Director of IT Audit, National Audit Office of the United Kingdom. Topic: “Technology Enabled Financial Audit – Responding to the Audit Challenge”;
• Elenore Karpfen, Senior Director, Systems Assurance and Data Analytics Group, Australian National Audit Office. Topic: “The Information Technology Control Environment & Safeguarding Financial Information from Cyber Threats”;
• Salah Alyafeai, Audit Manager, Performance Audit, National Audit Office of the Kingdom of Bahrain. Topic: “Information System Audit at the National Audit Office of the Kingdom of Bahrain.”

The seminar participants also discussed a wide range of issues in the field of IT audit:  risk-oriented approach; access to auditees’ information systems and new technological solutions; security and data integrity; personnel qualification; international IT audit practices and methodologies.