Examining the Availability of the Required Controlling Procedures that Obstruct the Logical and Physical Access to AIS: the Case of the Listed Companies in the PEX

Abstract

This paper comes to examine the availability of the required controlling procedures that obstruct the logical and physical access threats that face the accounting information system (AIS) of the listed corporations in the Palestine Exchange; PEX: (industrial, service, banking and insurance sectors). Indeed, this study goes together with a specially designed questionnaire, used to answer the study questions. 280 questionnaires were distributed to the respondents (financial managers, accountants, internal auditors, computer employees and external auditors). 211 questionnaires, which statistically constitute (75.4%) of the study sample, were taken back. To achieve the previous objectives, a number of statistical methods have been used (Cronbach's Alpha, Descriptive Statistics, One Sample T Test, and Kruskal–Wallis). The findings show that both the banking and insurance sectors in Palestine possess the required controlling fundamentals that prevent the logical and physical access threats to the AIS. Another finding of this study states that the service and the industrial sectors in Palestine are highly under threat as they suffer from the lack and weakness of the availability of the fundamentals of controlling needed to prevent the logical access and the physical access threats to the AIS. However, the findings of this paper came up with the following recommendations: Firstly, PEX and board of directors of the listed corporations should obligate the companies to work on enhancing the controlling fundamentals that prevent the logical and physical access. Secondly, the industrial and the service sectors should take into account the importance of designing the logical and physical access landscapes to minimize the current threats that face the AIS.