Compliance with security and privacy frameworks like SOC 2 is the baseline expectation in today’s risk-aware market. For organizations handling customer data, this attestation not only strengthens business credibility but also helps their security practices withstand scrutiny.
However, obtaining a SOC 2 report isn’t straightforward. Because of the framework’s many comprehensive requirements, teams without a planned approach can lose time dealing with unclear expectations and scattered tasks.
This checklist guide breaks down SOC 2 compliance into 15 actionable steps across four phases. You can use it to prepare for your first SOC 2 assessment or to tighten existing controls before renewal.
What is SOC 2 compliance?
SOC 2 is a voluntary compliance framework that evaluates how effectively organizations protect sensitive customer data. It was originally developed by the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA) to help standardize security practices and reduce the risk of data breaches for service organizations. It has since been widely adopted by businesses that store or process customer data.
SOC 2 compliance requires an attestation, which involves undergoing a third-party audit to verify that your systems align with AICPA’s five Trust Services Criteria (TSC). This independent validation demonstrates your commitment to data security to stakeholders, including customers and prospects.
After the audit, your assessor issues a SOC 2 report that attests to your compliance with the criteria. You can get two types of SOC 2 reports based on the scope of evaluation:
- Type 1 report: An attestation that confirms your controls meet SOC 2 standards at a certain point in time
- Type 2 report: An attestation that validates the operational effectiveness of your SOC 2 controls and policies over a period of 3–12 months
{{cta_withimage1="/cta-blocks"}} | SOC 2 compliance checklist
Start SOC 2 compliance by mapping the Trust Services Criteria
The five TSCs form the foundation of SOC 2, defining the standards against which your data security controls are evaluated during compliance audits. The Assurance Services Executive Committee (ASEC) of the AICPA developed and introduced these in 2017.
Here are the five Trust Services Criteria:
- Security: Safeguarding your systems from unauthorized access, exposure, and vulnerabilities
- Availability: Ensuring that systems remain available to stakeholders and customers as promised in contracts, service level agreements (SLAs), or other commitments
- Processing integrity: Verifying that your systems function as intended, without errors or unauthorized modifications
- Confidentiality: Limiting the use, storage, and access of sensitive information
- Privacy: Guarding sensitive customer information against unauthorized collection or processing
Familiarizing yourself with these criteria helps you map controls and policies to each category before you start working through a SOC 2 checklist.
The 4-phase SOC 2 compliance checklist
Your path to SOC 2 attestation may differ depending on your organization’s size, industry, and IT system complexity. It's typically a four-phase process, as outlined in the table below:
Phase I: Preparation and scoping
The goal of the first phase is to understand and scope SOC 2 compliance requirements and lay the groundwork for a smooth attestation. Let’s look at the key decisions and tasks you’ll focus on.
Step 1: Determine your compliance objectives
Start by determining why you’re pursuing a SOC 2 report. Analyze your current operations and strategic goals to prioritize objectives, whether it’s meeting customer requests, using SOC 2 as a competitive differentiator in the market, or looking to strengthen your security posture.
By the end of this step, you should be able to assess the type of report you need, the scope of SOC 2 implementation, and the approach to compliance.
Step 2: Select SOC 2 report type
Next, determine whether you’re pursuing a Type 1 or Type 2 report. The decision depends on your market expectations, audit readiness, and resources available to meet compliance obligations.
Although both reports demonstrate that your controls meet SOC 2 criteria, Type 1 only serves as a snapshot of your current control status. It can be suitable if you need to demonstrate your system maturity to stakeholders quickly.
Type 2 reports are more comprehensive and generally widely requested, as they evaluate controls over a longer period. However, they require deeper preparation and documentation and take significantly longer to obtain.
Step 3: Decide which criteria, systems, and teams are in scope
Conduct an internal assessment to identify the stakeholders, assets, and locations that fall within your system boundary and determine which TSCs apply to you. This scoping is crucial because it helps you proactively map the people, systems, and environments that the audit will cover.
Out of all TSCs, the Security criterion is mandatory, while others are scoped based on business needs, client expectations, and the nature of the data handled. For instance, if you or your clients have uptime commitments formalized through SLAs, you should include Availability. And, if you primarily handle sensitive information or work in a highly regulated industry, you should also focus on the Confidentiality criterion.
Step 4: Internal stakeholder communication
SOC 2 compliance is a cross-departmental effort that requires collaboration between security, engineering, IT, and compliance, among other teams. Initially, it can be difficult to get teams to understand what they’re responsible for and why it matters. However, fostering such situational awareness sets the stage for a security-conscious culture where compliance is integrated into everyday work.
The best practice is to communicate the meaning and impact of compliance goals to your teams early on. Clarify why you’re pursuing SOC 2, the business impact of non-compliance, and how it affects their work.
For example, sales and go-to-market (GTM) teams would immediately recognize the value in SOC 2 compliance if they knew it helps complete security questionnaires and close deals faster. Such transparent communication fosters trust and accountability among distributed teams.
Step 5: Perform a gap analysis
To close out phase one, conduct an internal gap assessment against the TSC requirements to identify where your current controls, policies, and documentation fall short. The findings from this exercise will help shape a clear roadmap for the next phase, showing where to focus improvements and how to allocate resources effectively.
Phase II: Remediation and implementation
After you laid the groundwork with phase one, it’s time to move into remediation and implementation. The goal of phase two is to close any compliance gaps you identified, document and implement controls, and prepare for the formal SOC 2 audit.
Step 6: Initiate gap remediation (planning)
With a detailed overview of your compliance gaps, it’s time to start with remediation workflows. This entails processes such as:
- Developing, approving, and publishing missing policies
- Updating workflows to address vulnerabilities
- Conducting staff training so that teams understand any updated roles and controls
- Removing unauthorized access
Start by creating a list prioritizing all gaps based on their potential business impact. That way, you can address high-risk or time-sensitive issues first.
Step 7: Assign ownership for control alignment
Assign specific stakeholders or teams to each control area to create clear accountability lines. Because new or updated controls rarely cover every scenario perfectly, clear ownership for each ensures exceptions are tracked, minimized, and resolved over time.
While this approach reduces system vulnerabilities and supports continuous improvement of controls, many industry experts emphasize that it also fosters a culture where compliance becomes everyone’s responsibility.
“
Security control ownership isn’t just about assigning tasks or distributing responsibility for compliance initiatives; it’s about embedding security into the culture of the organization. When people understand what they’re accountable for, why it matters, and how their actions build trust beyond the company walls, compliance stops being a checklist and turns into a shared mission that brings company-wide value.
Step 8: Implement and test controls
With ownership assigned, implement and test your controls to confirm they operate as intended. When testing fresh implementations, simulate different risk scenarios and document the responses to identify potential areas that require fine-tuning.
Pay special attention to access control, since it’s one of the most scrutinized and frequently misimplemented control areas. Verify that access is provisioned, modified, and deprovisioned regularly, and that users have access to information relevant to their roles and systems.
Step 9: Post implementation readiness assessment (pre-audit)
Once you’ve identified gaps and documented exceptions, conduct a fresh internal assessment of your controls, policies, and documentation to verify alignment with SOC 2 criteria. It can be performed by your internal team or hired SOC 2 consultants, depending on your organization’s maturity and resources.
This step helps you flag and address any last-minute issues, so the formal attestation audit in the next phase proceeds smoothly and without delays.
{{cta_withimage1="/cta-blocks"}} | SOC 2 compliance checklist
Phase III: Third-party attestation audit
The goal of this phase is to engage an independent auditor and obtain a SOC 2 attestation. Expect all your controls, policies, and documentation to be assessed against the framework’s criteria by an accredited CPA.
Step 10: Evidence collection
Evidence collection is one of the most time-intensive parts of the SOC 2 compliance process. Depending on whether you’re pursuing a Type 1 or Type 2 report, you need to maintain different documentation:
- Type 1 requires point-in-time evidence of your implementation, such as snapshots, system descriptions, and policy documents
- Type 2 requires proof of continuous control effectiveness over a 3–12 month period, so you need evidence like audit logs, access reviews, and control test findings
Here are some key SOC 2-relevant documents:
Step 11: Hiring a SOC 2 auditor
Next, bring in an independent auditor to verify that your controls meet SOC 2 criteria and that you’re ready for attestation. The CPA you engage must be part of an AICPA-accredited firm and be fully independent from your organization to ensure an objective standpoint.
When choosing a CPA to partner with, look for professionals with credentials and experience in your industry. Auditors familiar with the nuances of your sector—be it SaaS, healthcare, or financial services—can better navigate your specific compliance needs.
This formal audit can take 2–5 weeks, but plan a realistic attestation window after factoring in buffer time for auditor requests and follow-ups, especially if you’re pursuing a type 2 report.
Step 12: Coordinate with the auditor and potential follow-ups
Maintain clear and consistent communication through the entire audit to stay on schedule and minimize delays in obtaining your report.
Prepare for possible follow-ups that may request additional clarifications, documentation, or proof of remediation for identified gaps from prior findings. Respond to such requests promptly, point out any potential exceptions beforehand, and address any new adverse findings with realistic remediation actions or plans.
Once all follow-ups are resolved and your auditor is satisfied, you’ll receive your SOC 2 attestation.
Phase IV: Maintaining SOC 2 compliance
SOC 2 reports don’t expire, but the attestation may be outdated when the underlying controls change. That’s why most organizations undergo audits every 12 months to keep their attestation current and credible for customers and stakeholders.
Step 13: Establish continuous monitoring through automation
Continuous monitoring is a key aspect of ongoing SOC 2 compliance. Automated solutions that integrate seamlessly with your systems enable you to detect control gaps and failures in real time, speeding up response times, reducing manual effort, and improving your overall audit readiness.
Automation can improve consistency by streamlining tasks such as:
- Generating alerts for control failures or drifts
- Running continuous monitoring checks on critical systems
- Maintaining logs and reports for easy evidence collection
For tasks you can’t automate, you can use structured checklists, change logs, and review notes to track abnormalities.
Step 14: Maintain a testing and review cadence
Establish a regular testing cadence for controls, their performance reviews, and internal audits. This way, you can identify trends in control drift and other potential issues early. Sample cadence can be:
- Monthly for critical systems
- Quarterly for key controls
- Semi-annually for SOC 2 training material updates
Document all findings, test results, and exceptions as evidence of ongoing compliance for the next SOC 2 audit.
Step 15: Schedule policy and control updates
Your SOC 2 controls and policies must evolve together with your business processes, systems, and regulatory changes to sustain long-term compliance. Set up metrics and KPIs to track the effectiveness of your controls over time. Identify areas that need to be remediated and record wins that reliably demonstrate ROI and positive compliance impact to leadership.
SOC 2 compliance challenges across phases
Even with thorough preparation, obtaining a SOC 2 attestation can be a complex process. The table below outlines the most common challenges:
Why Vanta is your go-to SOC 2 solution
Vanta is one of the best agentic trust platforms that supports multiple compliance, risk management, and trust initiatives.
It helps organizations of all sizes streamline SOC 2 attestation and maintenance. With workflow automation, expert guidance, and advanced AI tools, you can align with SOC 2 long-term and with confidence.
Vanta gives you a SOC 2 Starter Guide that helps you define your scope, document policies, implement controls, and prepare for an audit. Then, you get several helpful features to reduce compliance busywork, such as:
- 1200+ automated, hourly tests
- Automated evidence collection powered by 400+ integrations
- Pre-populated system templates
- Real-time insights with on-demand report generation
- Personalized, AI-generated code snippets for faster remediation
- Access to public Trust Centers
You can also leverage Vanta’s partner network to find trustworthy auditors and consultants to support your compliance journey.
Schedule a SOC 2 demo to experience Vanta’s features firsthand.
{{cta_simple1="/cta-blocks"}} | SOC 2 product page
FAQs
Do I need a readiness assessment for SOC 2?
A readiness assessment isn’t an explicit SOC 2 requirement, but it’s widely recommended as a best practice since it helps identify and address potential gaps before attestation audits.
Who issues SOC 2 reports?
SOC 2 reports are issued by independent Certified Public Accountant (CPA) firms that have received accreditation from the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA), following a successful SOC 2 compliance audit.
What if my SOC 2 controls fail?
If your SOC 2 controls fail during the attestation audit, the auditor will issue you a list of exceptions to address. Although it’s rare, you can be issued an adverse opinion if you fail to remediate flagged issues and multiple critical controls fail.
How often do I need a new SOC 2 audit?
In practice, SOC 2 reports are considered outdated after ~12 months. It’s recommended to undergo a fresh SOC 2 audit annually to ensure your controls remain effective.
Preparing for a SOC 2 audit
Your step-by-step SOC 2 compliance checklist: 15 essential tasks
Preparing for a SOC 2 audit
Your step-by-step SOC 2 compliance checklist: 15 essential tasks
If you’re preparing to guide your organization through SOC 2 compliance, Vanta’s SOC 2 compliance checklist will break down the process and give you a digestible view of the road ahead.
Download the checklist
Preparing for a SOC 2 audit
Looking to automate up to 90% of the work for SOC 2 compliance?
Compliance with security and privacy frameworks like SOC 2 is the baseline expectation in today’s risk-aware market. For organizations handling customer data, this attestation not only strengthens business credibility but also helps their security practices withstand scrutiny.
However, obtaining a SOC 2 report isn’t straightforward. Because of the framework’s many comprehensive requirements, teams without a planned approach can lose time dealing with unclear expectations and scattered tasks.
This checklist guide breaks down SOC 2 compliance into 15 actionable steps across four phases. You can use it to prepare for your first SOC 2 assessment or to tighten existing controls before renewal.
What is SOC 2 compliance?
SOC 2 is a voluntary compliance framework that evaluates how effectively organizations protect sensitive customer data. It was originally developed by the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA) to help standardize security practices and reduce the risk of data breaches for service organizations. It has since been widely adopted by businesses that store or process customer data.
SOC 2 compliance requires an attestation, which involves undergoing a third-party audit to verify that your systems align with AICPA’s five Trust Services Criteria (TSC). This independent validation demonstrates your commitment to data security to stakeholders, including customers and prospects.
After the audit, your assessor issues a SOC 2 report that attests to your compliance with the criteria. You can get two types of SOC 2 reports based on the scope of evaluation:
- Type 1 report: An attestation that confirms your controls meet SOC 2 standards at a certain point in time
- Type 2 report: An attestation that validates the operational effectiveness of your SOC 2 controls and policies over a period of 3–12 months
{{cta_withimage1="/cta-blocks"}} | SOC 2 compliance checklist
Start SOC 2 compliance by mapping the Trust Services Criteria
The five TSCs form the foundation of SOC 2, defining the standards against which your data security controls are evaluated during compliance audits. The Assurance Services Executive Committee (ASEC) of the AICPA developed and introduced these in 2017.
Here are the five Trust Services Criteria:
- Security: Safeguarding your systems from unauthorized access, exposure, and vulnerabilities
- Availability: Ensuring that systems remain available to stakeholders and customers as promised in contracts, service level agreements (SLAs), or other commitments
- Processing integrity: Verifying that your systems function as intended, without errors or unauthorized modifications
- Confidentiality: Limiting the use, storage, and access of sensitive information
- Privacy: Guarding sensitive customer information against unauthorized collection or processing
Familiarizing yourself with these criteria helps you map controls and policies to each category before you start working through a SOC 2 checklist.
The 4-phase SOC 2 compliance checklist
Your path to SOC 2 attestation may differ depending on your organization’s size, industry, and IT system complexity. It's typically a four-phase process, as outlined in the table below:
Phase I: Preparation and scoping
The goal of the first phase is to understand and scope SOC 2 compliance requirements and lay the groundwork for a smooth attestation. Let’s look at the key decisions and tasks you’ll focus on.
Step 1: Determine your compliance objectives
Start by determining why you’re pursuing a SOC 2 report. Analyze your current operations and strategic goals to prioritize objectives, whether it’s meeting customer requests, using SOC 2 as a competitive differentiator in the market, or looking to strengthen your security posture.
By the end of this step, you should be able to assess the type of report you need, the scope of SOC 2 implementation, and the approach to compliance.
Step 2: Select SOC 2 report type
Next, determine whether you’re pursuing a Type 1 or Type 2 report. The decision depends on your market expectations, audit readiness, and resources available to meet compliance obligations.
Although both reports demonstrate that your controls meet SOC 2 criteria, Type 1 only serves as a snapshot of your current control status. It can be suitable if you need to demonstrate your system maturity to stakeholders quickly.
Type 2 reports are more comprehensive and generally widely requested, as they evaluate controls over a longer period. However, they require deeper preparation and documentation and take significantly longer to obtain.
Step 3: Decide which criteria, systems, and teams are in scope
Conduct an internal assessment to identify the stakeholders, assets, and locations that fall within your system boundary and determine which TSCs apply to you. This scoping is crucial because it helps you proactively map the people, systems, and environments that the audit will cover.
Out of all TSCs, the Security criterion is mandatory, while others are scoped based on business needs, client expectations, and the nature of the data handled. For instance, if you or your clients have uptime commitments formalized through SLAs, you should include Availability. And, if you primarily handle sensitive information or work in a highly regulated industry, you should also focus on the Confidentiality criterion.
Step 4: Internal stakeholder communication
SOC 2 compliance is a cross-departmental effort that requires collaboration between security, engineering, IT, and compliance, among other teams. Initially, it can be difficult to get teams to understand what they’re responsible for and why it matters. However, fostering such situational awareness sets the stage for a security-conscious culture where compliance is integrated into everyday work.
The best practice is to communicate the meaning and impact of compliance goals to your teams early on. Clarify why you’re pursuing SOC 2, the business impact of non-compliance, and how it affects their work.
For example, sales and go-to-market (GTM) teams would immediately recognize the value in SOC 2 compliance if they knew it helps complete security questionnaires and close deals faster. Such transparent communication fosters trust and accountability among distributed teams.
Step 5: Perform a gap analysis
To close out phase one, conduct an internal gap assessment against the TSC requirements to identify where your current controls, policies, and documentation fall short. The findings from this exercise will help shape a clear roadmap for the next phase, showing where to focus improvements and how to allocate resources effectively.
Phase II: Remediation and implementation
After you laid the groundwork with phase one, it’s time to move into remediation and implementation. The goal of phase two is to close any compliance gaps you identified, document and implement controls, and prepare for the formal SOC 2 audit.
Step 6: Initiate gap remediation (planning)
With a detailed overview of your compliance gaps, it’s time to start with remediation workflows. This entails processes such as:
- Developing, approving, and publishing missing policies
- Updating workflows to address vulnerabilities
- Conducting staff training so that teams understand any updated roles and controls
- Removing unauthorized access
Start by creating a list prioritizing all gaps based on their potential business impact. That way, you can address high-risk or time-sensitive issues first.
Step 7: Assign ownership for control alignment
Assign specific stakeholders or teams to each control area to create clear accountability lines. Because new or updated controls rarely cover every scenario perfectly, clear ownership for each ensures exceptions are tracked, minimized, and resolved over time.
While this approach reduces system vulnerabilities and supports continuous improvement of controls, many industry experts emphasize that it also fosters a culture where compliance becomes everyone’s responsibility.
“
Security control ownership isn’t just about assigning tasks or distributing responsibility for compliance initiatives; it’s about embedding security into the culture of the organization. When people understand what they’re accountable for, why it matters, and how their actions build trust beyond the company walls, compliance stops being a checklist and turns into a shared mission that brings company-wide value.
Step 8: Implement and test controls
With ownership assigned, implement and test your controls to confirm they operate as intended. When testing fresh implementations, simulate different risk scenarios and document the responses to identify potential areas that require fine-tuning.
Pay special attention to access control, since it’s one of the most scrutinized and frequently misimplemented control areas. Verify that access is provisioned, modified, and deprovisioned regularly, and that users have access to information relevant to their roles and systems.
Step 9: Post implementation readiness assessment (pre-audit)
Once you’ve identified gaps and documented exceptions, conduct a fresh internal assessment of your controls, policies, and documentation to verify alignment with SOC 2 criteria. It can be performed by your internal team or hired SOC 2 consultants, depending on your organization’s maturity and resources.
This step helps you flag and address any last-minute issues, so the formal attestation audit in the next phase proceeds smoothly and without delays.
{{cta_withimage1="/cta-blocks"}} | SOC 2 compliance checklist
Phase III: Third-party attestation audit
The goal of this phase is to engage an independent auditor and obtain a SOC 2 attestation. Expect all your controls, policies, and documentation to be assessed against the framework’s criteria by an accredited CPA.
Step 10: Evidence collection
Evidence collection is one of the most time-intensive parts of the SOC 2 compliance process. Depending on whether you’re pursuing a Type 1 or Type 2 report, you need to maintain different documentation:
- Type 1 requires point-in-time evidence of your implementation, such as snapshots, system descriptions, and policy documents
- Type 2 requires proof of continuous control effectiveness over a 3–12 month period, so you need evidence like audit logs, access reviews, and control test findings
Here are some key SOC 2-relevant documents:
Step 11: Hiring a SOC 2 auditor
Next, bring in an independent auditor to verify that your controls meet SOC 2 criteria and that you’re ready for attestation. The CPA you engage must be part of an AICPA-accredited firm and be fully independent from your organization to ensure an objective standpoint.
When choosing a CPA to partner with, look for professionals with credentials and experience in your industry. Auditors familiar with the nuances of your sector—be it SaaS, healthcare, or financial services—can better navigate your specific compliance needs.
This formal audit can take 2–5 weeks, but plan a realistic attestation window after factoring in buffer time for auditor requests and follow-ups, especially if you’re pursuing a type 2 report.
Step 12: Coordinate with the auditor and potential follow-ups
Maintain clear and consistent communication through the entire audit to stay on schedule and minimize delays in obtaining your report.
Prepare for possible follow-ups that may request additional clarifications, documentation, or proof of remediation for identified gaps from prior findings. Respond to such requests promptly, point out any potential exceptions beforehand, and address any new adverse findings with realistic remediation actions or plans.
Once all follow-ups are resolved and your auditor is satisfied, you’ll receive your SOC 2 attestation.
Phase IV: Maintaining SOC 2 compliance
SOC 2 reports don’t expire, but the attestation may be outdated when the underlying controls change. That’s why most organizations undergo audits every 12 months to keep their attestation current and credible for customers and stakeholders.
Step 13: Establish continuous monitoring through automation
Continuous monitoring is a key aspect of ongoing SOC 2 compliance. Automated solutions that integrate seamlessly with your systems enable you to detect control gaps and failures in real time, speeding up response times, reducing manual effort, and improving your overall audit readiness.
Automation can improve consistency by streamlining tasks such as:
- Generating alerts for control failures or drifts
- Running continuous monitoring checks on critical systems
- Maintaining logs and reports for easy evidence collection
For tasks you can’t automate, you can use structured checklists, change logs, and review notes to track abnormalities.
Step 14: Maintain a testing and review cadence
Establish a regular testing cadence for controls, their performance reviews, and internal audits. This way, you can identify trends in control drift and other potential issues early. Sample cadence can be:
- Monthly for critical systems
- Quarterly for key controls
- Semi-annually for SOC 2 training material updates
Document all findings, test results, and exceptions as evidence of ongoing compliance for the next SOC 2 audit.
Step 15: Schedule policy and control updates
Your SOC 2 controls and policies must evolve together with your business processes, systems, and regulatory changes to sustain long-term compliance. Set up metrics and KPIs to track the effectiveness of your controls over time. Identify areas that need to be remediated and record wins that reliably demonstrate ROI and positive compliance impact to leadership.
SOC 2 compliance challenges across phases
Even with thorough preparation, obtaining a SOC 2 attestation can be a complex process. The table below outlines the most common challenges:
Why Vanta is your go-to SOC 2 solution
Vanta is one of the best agentic trust platforms that supports multiple compliance, risk management, and trust initiatives.
It helps organizations of all sizes streamline SOC 2 attestation and maintenance. With workflow automation, expert guidance, and advanced AI tools, you can align with SOC 2 long-term and with confidence.
Vanta gives you a SOC 2 Starter Guide that helps you define your scope, document policies, implement controls, and prepare for an audit. Then, you get several helpful features to reduce compliance busywork, such as:
- 1200+ automated, hourly tests
- Automated evidence collection powered by 400+ integrations
- Pre-populated system templates
- Real-time insights with on-demand report generation
- Personalized, AI-generated code snippets for faster remediation
- Access to public Trust Centers
You can also leverage Vanta’s partner network to find trustworthy auditors and consultants to support your compliance journey.
Schedule a SOC 2 demo to experience Vanta’s features firsthand.
{{cta_simple1="/cta-blocks"}} | SOC 2 product page
FAQs
Do I need a readiness assessment for SOC 2?
A readiness assessment isn’t an explicit SOC 2 requirement, but it’s widely recommended as a best practice since it helps identify and address potential gaps before attestation audits.
Who issues SOC 2 reports?
SOC 2 reports are issued by independent Certified Public Accountant (CPA) firms that have received accreditation from the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA), following a successful SOC 2 compliance audit.
What if my SOC 2 controls fail?
If your SOC 2 controls fail during the attestation audit, the auditor will issue you a list of exceptions to address. Although it’s rare, you can be issued an adverse opinion if you fail to remediate flagged issues and multiple critical controls fail.
How often do I need a new SOC 2 audit?
In practice, SOC 2 reports are considered outdated after ~12 months. It’s recommended to undergo a fresh SOC 2 audit annually to ensure your controls remain effective.
Explore more SOC 2 articles
Introduction to SOC 2
Preparing for a SOC 2 audit
SOC 2 reporting and documentation
Streamlining SOC 2 compliance
SOC differences and similarities
Additional SOC 2 resources
Get started with SOC 2
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