Cybersecurity Tools for CPAs

Susan B. Anders, PhD, CPA/CGMA

In a speech at Baruch College's 18th Annual Financial Reporting Conference, PCAOB member Kathleen Hamm stated: “Technology offers the promise of combining increased efficiencies with improved effectiveness, resulting in enhanced audit quality” (May 2, 2019, http://bit.ly/2HNfgxa). Emerging technologies, however, also contain potential threats from coding errors, unintended bias, and unauthorized access, and Hamm highlighted a recent SEC study of nine public companies victimized by cyberfraud. She also expressed a personal view that auditors should consider cybersecurity in their audit risk assessments, and referenced the AICPA guide, Reporting on an Entity's Cybersecurity Risk Management Program and Controls (May 2017, http://bit.ly/2MmBk6f).