IT Audit Career Outlook 1939



  • Found this on Vault the other night … it was written specifically for EY’s TSRS branch, but the author wrote it to address IT Audit in general. I’d be curious as to what some here think of this?
    I feel it was somewhat disheartening since I have an interest in IT Audit. I know contracting/consulting opportunities exists after you have a strong amount of experience, but aside from that … I’d imagine one with IT Audit experience could go into financial audit, internal audit, business process re-engineering, etc.
    Can anyone else come up with some additional areas that a person with IT Audit skills could seek out?
    For example, aside from being an audit associate, audit senior, and an audit senior manager, the next step is partner. Lets say you wish to leave audit after 5 years of big4 experience, where would you go?
    Personally, my goal is to reach the manager/director level. Preferably some type of manager level before I’m 30 (I’m now 23) and director some point later in life.
    Personally, I think IT Audit would be a great fit for me. I enjoy technology, I’m a people person and enjoy meeting new people, I like traveling, and I love politics … sounds like a good fit.
    Anyways … sorry for my rant … here’s the post off Vault.com
    *EY TSRS - Ernst and Young Technology Security Risk Services, they primarily handle external audit and internal ITsec advisory.
    Perhaps the most career limiting thing you could possibly do is join TSRS. Unless your life long dream has been to be a partner of IT Auditing or go to private and be a VP of IT Auditing/Security/Controls, this is not the job for you. The worst engineers and even wanna be hackers have more ERS skills than TSRS ‘consultants.’ IF you have a solid background in something that will get you CPA qualified, go that route first. You can always rotate into other groups. Know that it’s easy to pick up LAS, TSRS, Tax skills when coming from audit, but it’ll never be the same the other way around. TSRS does pay more, but if you ever make a career change into anything BUT TSRS work you will start back at audit level pay.
    Stay away from TSRS. A dead end service line in general unless you always wanted to be an information systems auditor when you were growing up.
    TSRS, while fundamentally supporting audit, will not grow w/Sarbanes Oxley. Do not listen to internal propaganda. Any dim-witted industry analyst will agree (and are agreeing) that groups like TSRS will suffer with the Sarbanes Oxley. Why? Because while the butter of TSRS is IT internal controls, TSRS’ growth is completely dependent on selling the value-added CONSULTING services (ie - your windows passwords should be 8 characters with alphanumeric combinations…hot damn i’m a management consultant.). And guess who they sell these consulting services to? That’s right, the audit clients. The sad truth is that TSRS services are not worth buying unless they’re already in there and can tack on the extra services…More importantly the network of contacts that TSRS managers and partners have pale in comparison to our Audit and Tax partners. Good luck trying to sell work on their own merit.
    Try this at your next interview…ask any of the ‘consultants’ you meet what groups they want to be in or specialize in. Ask them what the hot groups are…then think about what the act will do to those groups…you will then know the fate of TSRS.
    As for careers after TSRS . . . in my limited contact w/them I’ve seen mostly start new careers elsewhere (after they figure out their careers are over). Some go to grad school. I’ve heard of a few instances when a professional with a unique skill such as a secure e-business knowledge is picked up to do implementation work with real IT management consulting companies…
    Last thought: TSRS people are supposed to be IT inclined, but I will bet a month’s paycheck that any engineering college geek can run circles around half the staff and seniors at TSRS (who bill what? 350 an hour?)



  • Hi - I’d not let one article like this make the difference one way or another in pursuing a possible career as an IT Auditor. As a starting point, there will always be a need for good IT Auditors . This is because business relies heavily on technology (and there’s always a need for controls and inspections).
    In looking at prospects realistically, it might be difficult to obtain a job and the IT auditor may (or may not) make a little less in salary than other IT positions? Certainly, there are far more IT professionals (e.g., developers, technicians, etc), in most companies than IT auditors. There’s probably more demand for generic IT professionals to fill development, DBA, or other positions than IT audit, based on the laws of supply and demand ?
    Still with that said, I’d recommend continuing to explore this potential career path by research beyond what this one article shares. For example, you might search the Monster or Dice websites, plus other resources. Good luck 🙂
    Please paste to browser and add www
    google.com/search?hl=en-and-q=IT Audit Careers



  • Hi - I’d not let one article like this make the difference one way or another in pursuing a possible career as an IT Auditor. As a starting point, there will always be a need for good IT Auditors . This is because business relies heavily on technology (and there’s always a need for controls and inspections).
    In looking at prospects realistically, it might be difficult to obtain a job and the IT auditor may (or may not) make a little less in salary than other IT positions? Certainly, there are far more IT professionals (e.g., developers, technicians, etc), in most companies than IT auditors. There’s probably more demand for generic IT professionals to fill development, DBA, or other positions than IT audit, based on the laws of supply and demand ?
    Still with that said, I’d recommend continuing to explore this potential career path by research beyond what this one article shares. For example, you might search the Monster or Dice websites, plus other resources. Good luck 🙂
    Please paste to browser and add www
    google.com/search?hl=en-and-q=IT Audit Careers
    I’ve given it quite a bit a thought, both in lurking on the forum, searching out articles and opinions about IT Audit, and even speaking to a Big4 recruiter. I’ve also picked-up the CISA book and have attempted to engage myself in as many IT Audit type projects I have here at work.
    So far, it’s something I enjoy a lot.
    Thanks for your thoughts Harry. I notice you’re also active on the McAfee forum, do you happen to work for them? Sorry if that’s too personal, feel free to pm me, I’m only curious.



  • I notice you’re also active on the McAfee forum, do you happen to work for them?
    Hi - I’m active in the security field and a number of forums. The ‘www’ button in my posts points to a blog I maintain related to current security news and best practices.
    I don’t work for McAfee, but have had experience with their corporate products for over a decade. I mainly share in the area of breaking security news pertinent to viruses in the forums. I also cut/paste these types of alerts into other technical forums as an awareness to the user community.
    I truly enjoy technology and business forums, as user-to-user sharing is an excellent way to learn and share experiences. That’s one reason I visit here as often as I can 🙂
    Please paste to browser, no www is required
    forums.mcafeehelp.com/viewforum.php?f=23



  • I notice you’re also active on the McAfee forum, do you happen to work for them?
    Hi - I’m active in the security field and a number of forums. The ‘www’ button in my posts points to a blog I maintain related to current security news and best practices.
    I don’t work for McAfee, but have had experience with their corporate products for over a decade. I mainly share in the area of breaking security news pertinent to viruses in the forums. I also cut/paste these types of alerts into other technical forums as an awareness to the user community.
    I truly enjoy technology and business forums, as user-to-user sharing is an excellent way to learn and share experiences. That’s one reason I visit here as often as I can 🙂
    Please paste to browser, no www is required
    forums.mcafeehelp.com/viewforum.php?f=23
    Thanks for the reply. I agree and I also love participating in discussions about technology and helping users with computer problems. I hope down the road even more users utilize these forums.


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