User Access Review Checklist: 5 Must-Haves for IT Teams

Compliance policies need to keep up with cyber criminals. Regulatory demands on companies are growing, which in turn drives audits. Compliance audits make IT staff nervous—you always hear of an audit as a fire drill for the IT team. If you are a typical enterprise, you probably have a combination of AWS, Office 365, Google Drive, Active Directory, and SharePoint. The more IT sprawl across cloud, custom, and enterprise applications, the greater the risk profile for any IT audit as access control gets difficult to administer and manage. Internal and external auditors are looking for compliance with controls to prevent security incidents.

One of the biggest issues auditors discover is application users being granted inappropriate access. This happens for multiple reasons: most employees request more access than they need, leading to excessive privileges. A typical product or service company is in a mad rush to innovate and deliver new products. Often, in the haste to meet project timelines, managers may be lax with access governance rules.

More often than not, these mistakes are due to managers not fully understanding organizational policies rather than willful omission. Cloning new employees’ user access after another employee is another anti-pattern. For example, Jenna, a new hire, may have her access modeled after Jody, who has been in the company for ten years. Unless Jody’s privileges have been correctly aligned to her current role, Jenna will have excess privileges into systems, file shares, etc. Poorly designed roles can also lead to access issues, granting too much or too little access.

Roles should be aligned with business processes rather than specific users or jobs. Auditors have found situations where a contractor is assigned a role that should be read-only, but during the annual SOX audit, the role was found to have writing capabilities. Below is a comprehensive user access review checklist, highlighting best practices from an auditor’s perspective to help organizations implement better security, efficiency, and compliance.

Define the Scope and Risk Prioritization for Reviews

Defining the scope of the user access review audit checklist is a critical first step. Explicitly list the applications, systems, and resources included in the review. Incorporate risk assessment to prioritize high-risk accounts first. This ensures critical areas are addressed promptly while streamlining audit efforts.

Ingest Applications Data for Identities, User Accounts, and Entitlements

Before beginning access reviews, gather all relevant identity and access data from connected applications. Ingesting data ensures visibility across systems like Active Directory, Salesforce, AWS, or HR systems. This step consolidates:

• Identities – who the users are

   

• User Accounts – the login credentials they hold

   

• Entitlements – their specific access rights or permissions

   

Having a unified dataset of users and their entitlements creates a single source of truth for access reviews. It also helps detect orphaned accounts, excessive privileges, or missing role assignments early in the audit process.

Formalize Process for User Access Reviews

Audit findings can lead to monetary loss and tarnish reputations. Organizations must have a formal process: collect data across all applications periodically, application owners should review user entitlements, and formal documentation should be made of any remediation. Manual access reviews, though not ideal, are better than not having any at all.

Key steps in the user access review checklist include:

• Approving access for active users.

   

• Ensuring unique user IDs aligned with job responsibilities.

   

• Updating access rights when employees transfer roles or change responsibilities.

   

• Implementing a formal access provisioning process before reviews begin.

   

Disable Access for Terminated Employees

Ensuring the swift removal of access privileges when employees leave is critical. User IDs of terminated employees must be deactivated on their last working day, and permissions must be removed across all systems. Maintain logs and verify completion to prevent misuse by former employees. This is an essential step in any user access review audit checklist.

Enforce Segregation of Duties (SOD) & Least Privileges

Every role and entitlement should follow the principles of least privilege and SoD:

• Segregation of Duties: Assign responsibilities to prevent a single user from controlling a critical process. Include maker–checker roles to ensure no individual can approve their own actions.

   

• Least Privilege: Grant only the access required to perform the role. Limiting access reduces risk of unauthorized data access.

   

Auditors expect evidence that these controls are implemented consistently.

Adopt a Zero-Trust Approach for Privileged Accounts

Privileged accounts are prime targets for cybercriminals. Organizations must adopt a zero-trust mindset for these accounts:

• Automate privileged account lifecycle (creation, modification, deletion).

   

• Assign predefined expiry dates for privileged access.

   

• Periodically evaluate access scope and activity.

   

• Monitor activity continuously to detect anomalies.

   

This reduces human error, enforces consistency, and ensures audit readiness.

Manage Adhoc Privileges

Users working on special projects may require temporary elevated access. Ensure:

• Access is scope-limited (read, write, etc.).

   

• Duration is time-bound.

   

• Requests are vetted and approved by the respective manager.

   

Maintain Proof of Compliance & Monitor Deviations

Auditors require evidence to finalize reviews. Organizations should maintain documentation for all audit trails and remediations. Additionally:

• Track unsuccessful login attempts.

   

• Monitor user activity for policy deviations.

   

• Regularly compare access against organizational security policies.

   

This demonstrates a proactive approach to governance and reduces compliance risk.

Document and Share Review Outcomes with Stakeholders

Document all findings, risks, and remediation actions in a report. Share it with key stakeholders:

• IT administrators

   

• Security teams

   

• Department heads

   

• Compliance and audit teams

   

This promotes accountability, ensures awareness, and drives continuous improvement in access governance.

Whether it’s SOX for financial compliance, HIPAA for healthcare, or PCI for credit card data, IT audits are complex. A good user access review checklist combined with identity governance software simplifies the process, enforces IT controls, and demonstrates compliance.

SecurEnds offers a lightweight, highly configurable platform to:

• Load user data from multiple systems of record

   

• Connect dynamically to applications

   

• Match identities with user credentials

   

• Manage heartbeat identities across connected and disconnected systems

   

• Schedule one-time or periodic access recertifications

   

• Generate proof of compliance for external auditors

   

With SecurEnds, your organization can streamline user access reviews, mitigate risks, and maintain audit readiness efficiently.

Step	Action / Best Practices	Notes / Tips
1. Define Scope & Risk Prioritization	Identify all applications, systems, and resources to audit. Prioritize high-risk accounts.	Ensures critical areas are addressed first and resources are used efficiently.
2. Ingest Applications Data for Identities, User Accounts, and Entitlements	Connect all in-scope applications and import user, account, and entitlement data to create a single source of truth.	Ensures complete visibility before reviews begin and helps identify orphaned or excessive access early.
3. Formalize User Access Review Process	Approve active users, assign unique IDs, update access for role changes, and document the process.	Manual reviews are better than none; automation reduces errors.
4. Disable Access for Terminated Employees	Deactivate accounts on last working day and remove all permissions. Verify completion.	Prevents misuse of access by former employees.
5. Enforce Segregation of Duties & Least Privileges	Separate roles (maker/checker), and grant minimum access required.	Auditors expect evidence of SoD and least privilege controls.
6. Adopt Zero-Trust Approach for Privileged Accounts	Automate lifecycle management, set expiry dates, and monitor activity.	Reduces risk of privileged account misuse and human error.
7. Manage Adhoc Privileges	Limit scope (read/write), set duration limits, and approve carefully.	Temporary access must be controlled and documented.
8. Maintain Proof of Compliance & Monitor Deviations	Track login failures, monitor policy deviations, and maintain audit trail documentation.	Ensures compliance evidence is ready for auditors.
9. Document & Share Review Outcomes	Summarize findings, risks, and remediation. Share with IT, security, department heads, and audit teams.	Promotes accountability and continuous improvement.

✍ Article by Abhi Kumar Sood