ISACA’s new update to the IT Audit Framework (ITAF) aligns the framework with the latest developments on today’s technology landscape, providing audit practitioners with the most relevant best practices needed to assess enterprises’ operational effectiveness and achieve compliance.
ITAF, 5th Edition, provides an array of key updates from the previous edition. Adherence with ITAF is a requirement for CISA-certified professionals.
“This new edition of ITAF meets this moment,” writes Mary Carmichael in an ISACA Now blog post. “It modernizes the framework for today’s realities, including digital ecosystems, stronger governance and a more strategic audit function.”
Updates to the new edition include:
- Modernization of content and scope: ITAF, 5th Edition updates terminology, definitions and examples to reflect today’s technologies—such as cloud computing, AI/ML, and business automation—moving beyond the traditional IT control focus of the previous edition.
- Integration of digital trust and emerging technologies: The new framework incorporates digital trust concepts throughout planning, fieldwork and reporting, and adds guidance for AI/ML auditing aligned with ISACA’s AI audit guidance and the broader digital trust ecosystem.
- Increased flexibility, practicality and usability: ITAF, 5th Edition introduces language suitable for organizations of all sizes, adds practical examples and improves clarity through a modernized layout.
- Expanded audit practices and governance expectations: The new version broadens the scope of IT audit to include data analytics, agile auditing, continuous assurance, and AI governance, with enhanced expectations for transparency, ethical technology use, and oversight of automated systems.
Carmichael writes that the guidance provided in the new framework is coming at an ideal time.
“For ISACA professionals, these shifts are already showing up in our day-to-day work: auditing cloud environments, evaluating AI, using analytics, and advising the business earlier and more often,” Carmichael writes. “ITAF 5 brings structure and consistency to that reality, aligning the framework with how audit is practiced today.”
ITAF, 5th Edition, is free – access it and other ISACA audit resources here.