What is the best metric to measure the management of user access administration in information security?

The best metric to measure the management of user access administration in information security is the percentage of accounts with configurations in compliance. This metric is crucial because it directly reflects the organization's adherence to security policies and standards regarding user access controls.

Maintaining compliance-related configurations for user accounts ensures that access rights are properly assigned based on roles and responsibilities, minimizing the risk of unauthorized access. Non-compliance with user account configurations can lead to vulnerabilities and potential data breaches. By focusing on the percentage of accounts that meet the established compliance requirements, organizations can assess the effectiveness of their access control measures and take necessary actions to remediate any issues.

In contrast, while the elapsed time to suspend accounts of terminated users and those transferring provides insight into response time and process efficiency, they don't necessarily indicate how well access management is maintained in terms of security posture. The ratio of actual accounts to actual end users may provide a superficial sense of account management effectiveness, but it lacks a direct correlation to security compliance and does not measure the quality of user access rights or the enforcement of security policies. Thus, a focus on compliance configurations offers a stronger metric for understanding and improving user access administration in information security.