CISA Practice Question: Information Systems Acquisition, Development, and Implementation
An IS auditor is assessing an ERP implementation. Which of the following control concerns is MOST likely to arise from segregation of duties conflicts?
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
✓
Unauthorized transactions or fraud
ERP systems often combine roles that were separate in legacy systems, increasing risk of fraud.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Data migration errors
Why it's wrong here
Segregation of duties conflicts concern access rights that let one user complete an entire transaction cycle, enabling fraud or concealed errors. Data migration errors arise from mapping, cleansing and cutover defects, which is why migration testing is tempting, but they are unrelated to how duties are divided among users.
- ✗
Inadequate system performance
Why it's wrong here
Segregation of duties conflicts create the risk that one person can both perpetrate and conceal errors or fraud, so the concern is unauthorised or fraudulent transactions, not throughput. Performance is tempting because ERP systems are resource-intensive, but it stems from sizing and architecture, not conflicting access rights.
- ✗
Integration complexity
Why it's wrong here
Segregation of duties conflicts concern a single user holding incompatible access, permitting fraud or concealed errors. Integration complexity is tempting because ERP implementations do involve many interfaces, but that risk stems from system architecture and data flows, not from how duties are assigned across users.
- ✓
Unauthorized transactions or fraud
Why this is correct
When one person can initiate, approve and record a transaction, no independent check exists, enabling fictitious vendors, duplicate payments or unauthorised adjustments to pass undetected. This is the classic fraud exposure that segregation of duties controls are designed to prevent.
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Written by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
This CISA practice question is part of Courseiva's free ISACA certification practice question bank. Courseiva provides original exam-style practice questions with explanations, topic-based practice, mock exams, readiness tracking, and study analytics to help learners prepare for the CISA exam.