SOC2 certification puts that question and their subsequent doubts to rest for good. But becoming SOC2 certified is a herculean task as one company has to navigate through multiple parameters set by the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA) and pass the audit. 

Before jumping into the wagon, it is always recommended to test the water with SOC2 audit assessment readiness. It prepares you thoroughly before you go for a SOC2 audit in real time. In this article, we will dive deep into the SOC2 audit assessment readiness steps to achieve continuous compliance and the role of GRC software in SOC2 compliance management.

What is SOC2 audit assessment readiness?

SOC2 audit assessment readiness goes by as the name suggests – a methodical way to evaluate thoroughly where your organization stands in terms of SOC2 audit and identifies the gaps that need to be addressed to clear the audit. 

SOC2 readiness can be checked via an external consultant, a certified CA firm, or even an internal audit team. External teams are always preferred over internal ones as any bias or unwanted inclination is removed when reviewed by a 3rd party in an independent manner. The auditor (s) must be thorough with the paradigm and nuances of the business along with the security compliance landscape. 

In simple words, it can be considered a rehearsal before the main play so that you can tick all the boxes of requirements and controls, identify beforehand all the non-compliances and resolve all the issues before your SOC2 audit preparation. 

Steps of SOC2 audit assessment readiness

There are 4 steps through which you can achieve continuous SOC2 compliance:

• Step 1: Identify your scope 

The most crucial step for any successful SOC2 audit assessment readiness is to identify and understand the scoping part. As per governing body AICPA, 5 core trust services criteria, you should  adhere to but depending on systems and processes, it might vary greatly. 

An SOC2 compliance requirement is to focus on having a thorough understanding of additional scoping considerations such as technology, people, services or applications, locations, and the overall timeline for the complete project. 

• Step 2: Gap analysis and control mapping 

You must identify the gaps between the trust services criteria and your internal control environment to proceed further. Your gaps will tell you how ready your existing internal controls are and how much more you have to cover to match the SOC 2 auditor’s expectations. After gathering the control, you need to map your control environment to have a well-designed and defined control structure in place. With a thorough mapping and control gap analysis, you can identify the hidden loopholes and establish the foundation needed to have SOC2 compliance. 

• Step 3: External reporting

Your success or failure greatly depends on how good your auditor partner is. Not every CPA firm would be a good fit to perform a proper SOC2 audit assessment readiness. They need to be knowledgeable about your industry and business model, and must be ready to go against the tide in cases where they find discrepancies through their independent testing method and call it out. A thorough and independent testing for audit will prepare your organization for the ultimate goal of achieving SOC2 certification.

• Step 4: Technology to support continuous compliance

With the constantly changing economy, increasing uncertainty, and battering impact of a covid pandemic, control environments are unpredictable and prone to change. You can’t afford to take SCO2 compliance readiness as a mere annual exercise, rather you should always be on your toes regarding control environment management. 

Instead of spending hours on keeping track of controls and creating compliance risks with manual compliance tasks and evidence collection, automate SOC2 compliance management with a GRC platform. 

Through the GRC compliance and risk management framework, you can assign and track control gaps, collect evidence for attestation, and send reports to management altogether from a single platform. 

If you keep your checks regularly updated, at the end of the year there will be minimal scope for any surprises regarding SOC2 preparation. Through ongoing basis monitoring, you’d be ahead of the curve and be in complete control of the environment for SOC2 compliance audit assessment. 

How can the GRC platform help in the SOC2 audit readiness preparation?

GRC software is a cloud-based software which helps businesses mitigate risk to, legal, financial, and all other liabilities. Organizations leverage GRC platforms widely to define, implement, and monitor company-wide strategies for risk management pertaining to financial, hazard, strategic, and operational risks. 

A cloud-based GRC solution such as VComply with SOC2 compliance management including:

• Scoping in-depth your SOC2 requirements. 
• Centralizing your SOC2 compliance data and automating evidence collection.

Providing you with a detailed history log of all the compliance activities.

• Meticulously performing assessments and audit preparedness and collaborating with multiple stakeholders at a go. 
• Streamlining the issue-resolving process and closing gaps with automated workflows.
• Allowing third-party auditors to work in a centralized platform.

GRC software VComply for SOC2 compliance management enables organizations to: 

• Implement successful SOC2 compliance programs, 
• Establish strong internal controls, and 
• Manage continuous monitoring and auditing. 

Being associated with Prescient Assurance LLC, a global top 20 independent audit and penetration testing company, VComply provides end-to-end SOC2 compliance management readiness. 

Final thoughts

SOC2 certification is a rainmaker for all enterprise-level deals in modern days but complying with each step of their long list is a mammoth task. SOC2 audit assessment readiness can be thought of as a mock preparation for the final examination and the success of the audit greatly depends on this. A risk and compliance management solution will give your organization the much-needed edge to ace further quickly following all the norms and requirements on a regular basis.