Evaluating the Reliability of the Internal Control on the Computerized Accounting Information Systems: An Empirical Study on Banks Operating in Jordan.

Abstract

This study aimed to evaluate the reliability of the internal control methods on the computerized information systems in banks operating in Jordan. And to achieve this aim, a questionnaire was designed and distributed to the random sample of the study which consisted of 50 respondents of the managers and the employees of the computer units and the branches’ managers and the financial managers in the banks operating in Jordan.

After the questionnaire items had been analyzed using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences(SPSS) , it was concluded that the methods of the internal control used in the banks operating in Jordan were reliable because they met the requirements of the availability principle of the system; they adopted  policies and control and precautionary procedures to reduce the system’s  downtime as possible ,  they met the requirements of the security principle of the system through the protection against the physical and logical access and the protection of the personal computers and the networks.  And they also met the requirements of the principle of the maintenance and the adjustment   in terms of the existence of a strategic plan of maintenance, periodic evaluation of the system, and the use of the proper procedures of documentations and finally they met the requirements of integration where the banks adopted control procedures on the sources of data, the input , the processes , the outputs and the transfer operations  .

The researcher recommended the importance of the participation of the different categories of employees in developing and adjusting the accounting information systems and the bank’s concentration on raising the employees’ awareness of the importance of the control procedures and their goals before being trained to follow them.   The researcher also recommended applying the responsibility accounting principle in the control of the systems inside the bank where the committed employees are awarded and the uncommitted ones are penalized.

Keywords: availability, computerized accounting information systems, integration, possibility of maintenance and adjustment, reliability, security,