Auditing System Development: Constructing the Meaning of “Systematic and Rational” in the Context of Legacy Code Migration for Vendor Incentives

This simulation affords an opportunity for learning to audit system devel- opment for an accounting application. The simulation responds to the growing em- phasis on controlling system development for complying with the internal control as- surance requirements of Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 (U.S. House of Representatives). Because of the lack of detailed accounting standards for vendor incentives, learners have to construct a working definition of ''systematic and rational'' allocation of incentives in order to develop audit objectives and procedures. In the simulation, learners (1) develop objectives for auditing the specific project of migration of legacy code for vendor incentives and the system development for a group of proj- ects, (2) design audit procedures to achieve the audit objectives, (3) execute the audit procedures by querying the databases, and (4) communicate objectives, procedures, and results in a report. The simulation is staged with conversations among audit staff members and the company's system development manager, databases containing ap- plication test data and program library transactions, and readiness questions. Although the databases are supplied in the form of Microsoft Access files, the simulation can be worked with any database query tool. The simulation helps learners develop their capabilities for designing audit objectives and procedures for testing system devel- opment and for querying databases.