Accountants Must Help Companies Fight Systemic Cyber-Risks

What role do accountants and auditors play in cybersecurity, and how is that role evolving? In a video interview with Bloomberg Tax, Catherine Ide, the CAQ’s Managing Director of Professional Practice and Member Services, addressed both questions. On the cybersecurity role of the financial statement auditor, Ide noted that auditors have the responsibility “to maintain an understanding of the company’s information technology environment as well as the IT impact on the financial statements.”  Outside the context of the financial statement, Ide pointed to the AICPA’s cybersecurity risk management reporting framework, unveiled in 2017. Ide says the framework can help companies to “communicate in a common language about their cybersecurity risk management programs.”