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CISA Uses a chargeback model for IT services Practice Question
An organization uses a chargeback model for IT services. What is the PRIMARY benefit of this approach?
⚠ Common exam trap
Watch out — candidates often confuse the benefit of cost visibility (which chargeback provides) with cost reduction, but the primary benefit is accountability, not necessarily lower spending.
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
✓
Increases business unit accountability for IT spending
The primary benefit of a chargeback model is that it increases business unit accountability for IT spending. By directly allocating IT costs to the consuming departments based on actual usage (e.g., compute hours, storage GB, network bandwidth), business units are incentivized to optimize their consumption and make cost-conscious decisions. This aligns IT expenditure with business value and promotes transparency, rather than treating IT as a sunk cost.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Simplifies IT budgeting
Why it's wrong here
Chargeback can actually complicate budgeting due to allocation calculations.
- ✗
Reduces total IT costs
Why it's wrong here
Chargeback does not necessarily reduce costs; it may increase transparency but not reduce overall spend.
- ✗
Improves IT service quality
Why it's wrong here
Service quality is managed through SLAs, not chargeback models.
- ✓
Increases business unit accountability for IT spending
Why this is correct
Chargeback makes business units aware of their IT consumption and encourages cost-effective behavior.
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Written by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
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