You have been around in business for years. Now for the first time, you're being asked for your SOC 2 report with a current or potential customer. You're probably wondering what selection of cost and effort is necessary, and if it is worth it. Don't worry, you're not alone.
It's becoming increasingly common for organizations to request their vendors to undergo a Service Organization Control (SOC) 2 examination to make certain their sensitive information has been appropriately protected by your business what is a soc 2 audit. Many now require a written report included in their due diligence process before using the services of a company.
What's a SOC 2 Exam?
Developed by The American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA), a SOC 2 exam helps provide organizations a way to show the look and effectiveness of their internal controls. It's on the basis of the AICPA's trust services criteria of security required, availability, processing integrity, confidentiality and privacy. It pertains to the majority of businesses collecting, storing, processing or sharing customer data.
To complicate matters, you can find two forms of SOC 2 exams:
Type 1: Evaluates an organization's controls to ascertain if they're suitably designed and fairly stated at an individual point in time.
Type 2: Evaluates exactly the same controls as a Type 1, but additionally examines how well those controls performed over a time period, typically 6-12 months.
The Value It Brings
Besides the fact your customers may be requiring you to provide a SOC 2 report to be able to continue using the services of them, there are many benefits to having a test completed.
Having a SOC 2 report available and all set gives you the edge over competitors who can't show compliance. It demonstrates your commitment to data security and can help ensure confidential information is protected. Your team is likewise in a position to answer control-related questions from customers more efficiently. It's an effective method to assess and ensure compliance with a wide range of regulations and standards. Beyond that, it can help provide valuable insights into your organization's risk and security posture.
Tips to Prepare
Achieving compliance serves as a powerful external measure of competency and credibility, enabling organizations to feel confident about utilizing your services, but the process could be slightly stressful if you're not prepared. Here are five tips to make certain your readiness for a SOC 2 exam.
Obtain a readiness assessment. A readiness assessment can assist you to determine your preparedness for a SOC 2 exam. You can either choose to do a readiness assessment all on your own, or you could engage an auditing firm to do your review. Such an assessment provides insight into your organization's maturity level in its SOC 2 readiness journey and alerts one to any issues in advance. You have the ability to utilize auditors to simply help develop controls that may be audited and described properly.
Write the body description. When you have not already, you should get the body descriptions in order. First, decide which trust service criteria needs to be included in your SOC 2 exam based on your own business. An summary of your systems'controls to meet up the SOC 2 control objectives should be compiled for the auditor. Depending on the complexity of your organization, this could be a quick task or even a daunting one. Ensure you give yourself sufficient time to perform this thoroughly.
Almost all companies will typically engage their SOC auditor as a consultant to do a readiness assessment, that may include assistance in preparing the system description. An integral item to see is this document is dedicated to controls, not specific processes and does not want to give away all your operational secrets.
Gather your documentation. Anticipate to produce documentation to your auditors when asked. You ought to have policies, procedures, organizational outlines and a listing of third-party vendors, among many other things, on-hand and readily available. In a SOC 2 exam, each control needs to be auditable. If it's not documented, it can't be contained in the exam.
Fix your issues. Take some time to deal with the control flaws and failures identified in the readiness assessment. It can be a great time to double check whether or not your scope is appropriate.
Line-up the proper auditor. SOC 2 audits can only just be performed by certified public accounting (CPA) firms. But keep in mind, not totally all accountants are CPAs, which is why you can't hire a typical accountant to conduct your SOC 2 audit. It must be the one that specializes in information security, like those at Doeren Mayhew, and must be independent from your organization. The earlier you select the proper partner, the smoother the overall process will go.
In a global where organizations are leveraging technology more than ever to supply their products and services, security integrity is of the most importance to your customers. Although it might seem daunting, a SOC 2 exam can offer significant benefits to your business's operations and bottom line.
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