Like most large software publishers, Oracle routinely audits its customers to ensure compliance and to generate incremental revenue. While Oracle auditors may characterize the customer under audit as having been randomly selected, the reality is that most audits come about either as a submission directly from Oracle sales or as a generated target from Oracle’s audit department itself. Oracle audits are infamously long, resource-intensive, and, all too often, are financially costly for customers.

The question any Oracle customer should ask is: “Am I at risk for an Oracle audit?”

When were you last audited by Oracle?

Given their tens of thousands of global customers, Oracle does not have the bandwidth to audit each customer every year. While the standard audit clause in Oracle’s license agreements allows for frequent audits, Oracle will likely not audit the same company within 3 years of a past audit. All things being constant, a customer who’s last audit was 5 or more years ago is at a greater risk, and we believe customers that have never previously been audited are at greater risk still.

SOURCE: softwareone.com