The IT Audits in the Spanish Business Sector: Longitudinal Analysis (2001–2011)

In a society in which Information Systems and Information are considered like important assets for most companies, the realization of IT audits to measure its efficiency and prevent IT support breakdowns, is required. To this aim, this paper analyzes the evolution of the IT audit practice in Spanish companies, reporting the percentages of realization and the amount of professionals that execute such audit, and how it correlates with the importance that these companies give to Internet and the use of e-commerce. Our longitudinal study, encompassing the period 2001–2011, has shown substantial increase in the awareness of Spanish companies towards the realization of these audits: almost doubling the percentage of companies that performed them in this decade. We have also found that the realization of IT audits usually involves several types of professionals of the same company. Finally, we were able to analyze the association between the adoption of Internet and the use e-commerce in surveyed companies, and the realization of these IT audits.