System and controls assurance

With outsourcing, offshoring and cloud services becoming the norm for business operations, organizations increasingly are seeking greater assurance over their third-party providers, service organizations, and supply chain control environments. Although technology and processes may be outsourced, risk and accountability are not.

System and Organization Controls (SOC) reports help satisfy third-party risk and controls assurance requirements by driving consistent and streamlined processes and reporting. The control frameworks applied in a SOC report help to reduce the risk of cybersecurity breaches, business interruptions and reputational damage; as well as provide assurance over the quality and reliability of information and processing. The result is an enhanced internal control environment, tailored to strengthen the confidence and trust with your customers and stakeholders.

To determine whether a SOC report may be applicable and beneficial for your business, consider these questions:

• Have you been entrusted by your customers to safeguard their sensitive, confidential or private data?
• Do you provide software-as-a-service (SaaS) or other cloud-based solutions?
• Do you have access to your customers’ IT environment or perform a system development or management function on their behalf?
• Would you like to reduce the number of security questionnaires customers request you to complete?
• Do the RFPs you respond to include a requirement to provide an annual SOC report?
• Would you like to reduce the number of on-site visits performed by your clients or their auditors?
• Do you perform activities that impact your customers’ financial reporting or regulatory compliance?
• Are you seeking to demonstrate compliance with multiple security and control frameworks?
• Would you like to provide greater assurance on your cybersecurity risk management processes?
• Are you looking to build a strong control environment across your organization?

If you answered ‘yes’ to any of these questions, contact our dedicated specialists, who will work hand-in-hand with you to address your organization’s risk areas and assurance reporting needs.

Our globally accredited team specializes in high value technology risk and controls attestation services, including SOC 1®, SOC 2®, SOC for Cybersecurity, SOC for Supply Chain, ISO Certification® and more. We have experience in a wide range of industry frameworks and regulatory standards, such as SWIFT, NIST, GDPR, HIPAA, CSA STAR®, and CIOSC, as well as emerging technologies such as IoT, AI, blockchain and crypto assets.

We can help you develop an integrated assurance strategy and high-quality reporting to demonstrate the strengths of your system and control processes, address the needs of multiple stakeholders, and build trust with your customers and business partners. Our services include consultation, readiness assistance and attestation on internal control over financial reporting, security, availability, data processing, system reliability and privacy for service organizations, manufacturers, distributors, and others in both traditional and cloud environments.

Some of our most common controls assurance service requests include:

Formal attestation reporting on internal controls at a service organization that are relevant to the processing and reporting of financial transactions and data of the service organization’s customers and their auditors.

Attestation reporting on a service organization’s controls related to system security, privacy, availability, confidentiality, and processing integrity. SOC 2® reports are of particular relevance for service organizations operating in the software, technology, telecommunications and fintech space, whose services are offered in the cloud, as their customers become increasingly concerned about cybersecurity, service availability and reliability, as well as data protection and privacy. SOC 2® includes options for assurance reporting against multiple security and control frameworks to address the needs of a wide range of industry and regulatory requirements.

Certification of conformance to this widely recognized international standard that focuses on the management of information security and details requirements for establishing, implementing, maintaining and continually improving an Information Security Management System (ISMS).

With ISO/IEC 27701, an ISMS can be further extended to include a Privacy Information Management System (PIMS). ISO/IEC 27701 provides a framework for organizations to implement and maintain a system to support compliance with the EU’s GDPR, California’s CCPA and other data privacy requirements.

KPMG plays a leading role in various industry and professional standard-setting organizations for audit, assurance, security and internal control, enabling us to bring the latest guidance, thought leadership and interpretations to your team. Our global network of professionals has vast experience in System & Organization Controls (SOC) reporting, information technology, cloud services, cybersecurity, supply chain, emerging technology and privacy.

The breadth and depth of this experience enables us to understand the global landscape and the requirements you face, wherever your teams might be located. We have well-established methodology and a strong reputation for delivering high quality service, results and value-focused solutions^*.

^{*Some or all of the services described herein may not be permissible for KPMG audit clients and their affiliates or related entities.}

Contact our dedicated professionals for more information about how KPMG can help with your SOC reporting and Technology Assurance requirements. We’re here to help.