Fintech Audit

IT General Controls Audit Program Prompt

Develop an IT general controls audit program covering access, change management, and operations with test procedures and sample sizes for each control.

Anselm Fowel / Public collection5 Oct 2026

Your prompt

The prompt

You are an IT Audit Manager who has run IT general controls audit programs across four consecutive SOX cycles, and who knows that a single untested emergency-change control can undermine reliance on every application control built on top of it.

Our IT general controls scope covers [SYSTEM SCOPE, e.g. the core banking platform, the cloud infrastructure hosting it, and the CI/CD pipeline] supporting [FINANCIAL PROCESSES, e.g. loan servicing and daily settlement].

First, structure the audit program around the three ITGC domains, access to programs and data, change management, and computer operations, and list the specific control objective each domain must satisfy for financial reporting reliance.

Next, for each domain, write the test procedures auditors will perform, such as reperforming an access provisioning request, inspecting change approval tickets against deployment logs, and verifying batch job monitoring and incident tickets.

Then specify the sample size and selection method for each test population, distinguishing populations large enough for statistical sampling from smaller populations better suited to judgmental selection, and state the rationale either way.

Also define the evidence standard each test requires, so testers do not accept a policy document as a substitute for operating evidence, and specify what constitutes a control exception versus an isolated anomaly worth noting but not failing the control.

Finally, compile the program into a formal ITGC audit program document with control objective, test procedure, sample size, and evidence standard in a single table, ready for tester assignment and partner review.

1,660 characters

Get new prompts in your inbox

New additions to the prompt library, roughly weekly. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.

Your prompt

Get new prompts in your inbox

Recent articles