Definition

ITGC

ITGCs, or IT general controls, are the foundational technology controls that keep the systems behind financial reporting reliable and trustworthy. They fall into a few familiar groups: access management, change management, IT operations, and system development. Auditors care about them because a weakness here can undermine every application control that sits on top; if the wrong person can change a database directly, no report drawn from it is fully dependable. Under SOX, external auditors test ITGCs as part of assessing internal control over financial reporting. Strong ITGCs let a company and its auditors trust that the numbers coming out of its systems are complete and accurate.