CISA Governance and Management of IT Practice Question
A large financial institution has a well-defined IT governance framework with a clear organizational structure, policies, and processes. However, the internal audit department has identified that several IT projects are over budget and behind schedule. The project managers blame unclear requirements and scope creep. The IT governance committee meets monthly but reviews projects only at a high level. The auditor's best recommendation to improve project governance is to:
Answer choices
Why each option matters
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
✓
Establish a project management office (PMO) to oversee project governance and reporting
Establishing a project management office (PMO) provides standardized project management practices, oversight, and controls to prevent scope creep and improve delivery. Option A is tactical and focuses on security, not project delivery. Option B changes meeting frequency but does not establish a dedicated project governance function. Option D mandates a tool but does not address underlying governance processes.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Increase the frequency of security reviews for all projects
Why it's wrong here
Security reviews address confidentiality and control weaknesses, not the requirements definition and scope control causing the overruns. It is tempting because security assurance is a genuine audit responsibility, and it would be the right recommendation if projects were failing security assessments.
- ✗
Change the IT steering committee's meeting frequency to weekly with detailed reviews
Why it's wrong here
Weekly detailed steering reviews add oversight overhead without fixing the unclear requirements and uncontrolled scope changes that cause the overruns. It is tempting because increasing governance cadence is a recognised response when existing oversight is demonstrably too infrequent to catch issues.
- ✓
Establish a project management office (PMO) to oversee project governance and reporting
Why this is correct
A PMO establishes standardised project governance, oversight and reporting, directly addressing the unclear requirements, scope creep and high-level-only reviews causing overruns. It satisfies the need for project-level governance discipline that the existing framework lacks, rather than merely refining committee structure.
- ✗
Require all projects to use a specific project management software tool
Why it's wrong here
Mandating a tool imposes a delivery mechanism but leaves requirements definition and change control unaddressed, so scope creep continues. It is tempting because standardised tooling genuinely improves portfolio reporting and resource visibility across an organisation.
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JA
Written by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
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