Information Technology Auditing and Assurance (with ACL Software) [Paperback]

James A. Hall (Author), Tommie Singleton (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 27, 2004 | ISBN-10: 0324191987 | ISBN-13: 978-0324191981 | Edition: 2

IT AUDITING is an innovative and cutting edge product, which provides students an understanding of how to audit accounting information systems, including such new and expanded coverage of enterprise systems, fraud and fraud detection topics as continuous online auditing. Its organization and its integration of ACL software within the package ensure a solid background in traditional auditing as well as in the auditing of accounting information systems. The combination of text and software create a double learning environment in which students will gain a true understanding of how these audits take place in the real world.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

James A. Hall is Associate Professor of Accounting and Information Systems at Lehigh University, Bethlehem, PA. After his discharge from the U.S. Army, he entered the University of Tulsa in 1970 and received a BSBA in 1974 and an MBA in 1976. He earned his Ph.D. from Oklahoma State University in 1979. Hall has worked in industry in the field of systems analysis and computer auditing, and has served as consultant in these areas to numerous organizations. Professor Hall has published articles in the Journal of Accounting, Auditing & Finance, Management Accounting, Journal of Computer Information Systems, the Journal of Accounting Education, the Review of Accounting Information Systems, and other professional journals. He is the author of Accounting Information Systems, 4e, published by South-Western College Publishing.

Product Details

• Paperback: 568 pages
• Publisher: South-Western College Pub; 2 edition (July 27, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0324191987
• ISBN-13: 978-0324191981
• Product Dimensions: 9.8 x 7.8 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.5 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 1.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #345,648 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Audit and Control, September 28, 2001

By 

Jeffrey D. Weigensberg (Toronto, ONT Canada) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Information Systems Auditing and Assurance (Paperback)

I use this book as the basic text in my university course on computer auditing for CA's (CPA's to you south of the 49th) because it is the best text out of a bad lot. At times, Hall is concise and to the point. On occasion, for example in ch's 8 and 9 when he describes the audit of a receivables and a payables systems, his advice is detailed and valuable. Most of the time, though, he wanders into side issues in too much depth, ignores the concepts of risk and control, provides superficial advice and examples on CAAT's (despite the inclusion of the ACL disk, which, although stripped down, is worth the price of admission) and is just too thin on practical discussions of auditing in an EDP environment.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars The worst written book award!, May 10, 2007

By 

Special K (Michigan) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Information Technology Auditing and Assurance (with ACL Software) (Paperback)

This is one of the worst written and ill-conceived book. Author knows very little about current trends in information systems. An average well-informed reader would know more about information systems than the author without reading a single page of this book. Author's style is old school, orthodox and boring. Maybe his military background is making him approach everything in a disciplined way without curiously questioning how and why. No examples, no case studies discussed. Way too generic, confusing and useless work. I wasted my money as this was a textbook for the course I took in IT auditing. My suggestion to readers is to explore other references in IT auditing on amazon.

Amazon is not allowing me to go lower than one star. I will give it a one star since it is 568 stupid pages bound between two paperboards! IT auditing is relatively a new field and this book is a bogus opportunistic attempt to cash on the new buzz word "IT auditing".

3 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Poorly Written - One of the Worst, July 27, 2006

By 

H. Westergard (VA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Information Technology Auditing and Assurance (with ACL Software) (Paperback)

Frankly, I'm surprised that this book made it to publication. It has too many shortcomings. I'll cover one.

Among other shortcomings, the authors could improve on their writing by including topic sentences in paragraphs. To illustrate, consider the following first sentence in a paragraph:

"The result of natural disasters, such as fires, floods, wind, and earthquakes, are usually catastrophic to the computer center and information systems, even though the probability of such an occurrence is remote."

Based on this topic sentence you would think the subsequent sentences would expound on natural disasters and touch on the frequency of occurrence. Although the paragraph started on topic it quickly faded to discussions on human-made disasters and system failures. These should have been topics for separate paragraphs.


If this is the best available on the topic then I believe an opportunity exists for others to make some money on a better book. The "bar is low" with this book.

I would be interested to hear other comments. My comments are from the eyes of a student who is currently using this disappointing textbook. It is one of the worst textbooks I've encountered in my student career.