System Complexity and the Probability of Flaws in the Post Sarbanes Oxley Era

Abstract

understand accounting information systems infrastructures and the programs that access our valuable data. Systems that we believe are secure and protecting our data may be opening themselves to various risks caused by the very components that we have added for security purposes. The thousands of lines of code and additional processes we add to create a more secure environment may be leading us down a road of security vulnerabilities because of the added complexity to these systems. Accountants, auditors and business professionals in general should take steps to ensure that their data is secure; not only from the typical computer security risks such as hackers, viruses, natural disasters and theft, but from the risks arising from the system itself where the data resides. With this study, I hope to encourage a more strenuous approach to information security through the prospect of also looking at the implementation of components and complexity as causing flaws in accounting information system applications.