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SAS 70 Audit Reports | Obtain a Sample SAS 70 Type II Audit

If you are seeking to learn more about SAS 70 Type I and SAS 70 Type II audits, then one of the most effective ways for truly gaining an understanding of the auditing standard is to see what the finished product looks like-that is, a final SAS 70 audit report. Many people voice great frustration when going through their first SAS 70 audit because they truly don’t know what the SAS 70 audit report “looks and feels” like, that is, what is the actual content, format, and layout of the report.

Having a sample SAS 70 audit report prior to commencement of the audit who greatly benefit service organizations as they can visually see the important components of what lies in the report itself. sas70.us.com provides sample SAS 70 Type II audit reports for organizations and individuals looking to learn more about Statement on Auditing Standards No. 70, commonly known as SAS 70.

This report will give you an in-depth layout of what a SAS 70 audit report is, what are the critical components and content that make up the report, and it will also allow you to gain a true conceptual understanding of what the audit is actually undertaken and performed by auditors.

Remember, knowledge is power, so the more you know and learn about SAS 70 audits, the more prepared you and your organization will be in undertaking a SAS 70 Type I or SAS 70 Type II audit.

SAS 70 Type II Audit Reports | A SAS 70 Auditor’s Expert Opinion

SAS 70 Type I and SAS 70 Type II audits are being required more and more by service organizations in today’s growing regulatory compliance and heightened corporate governance environment.

Thus, if you are a service organization or third party providers of critical services to another entity, you may be very well called upon to become SAS 70 Type I or SAS 70 Type II compliant.

If you want to learn about the who, what, when, where and why of Statement on Auditing Standards No. 70, commonly known as SAS 70, then visit the official SAS 70 Resource Guide, where a wealth of information on the SAS 70 auditing standard awaits you. You can download white papers on SAS 70, read about the history of the auditing standard, learn certain SAS 70 specific terms and phrases that auditors use along with even obtaining a sample SAS 70 audit report.

Many service organizations having to go through a SAS 70 audit have voiced frustration in not being able to find a true resource portal that breaks down, distills, and explains the SAS 70 auditing standard in an easy to read and explainable format.

So, visit the SAS 70 Resource portal for all your needs on SAS 70 audits.

SAS 70 Audits for Data Centers & Managed Services

If you are a data center or manged services provider and need a SAS 70 audit, then here are some helpful tips and strategies for finding the right firm, getting a fair and equitable fee, and for ensuring you have the proper scope for the audit.

Today’s data center are complex entities, providing customers with a broad array of services, thus it’s important your SAS 70 report meets and exceeds the objectives of the audit for you and your customers.

1. First and foremost, find a CPA firm that specializes in not only SAS 70 audits, but one that has a strong understanding of the services offered by your organization. From ping, power, and pipe to highly complex managed services, it’s important to remember to keep all critical services within the scope of the audit.

2. Get a fixed fee for your audit. With the rising cost of expenses, such as gas, travel and other ancillary services ,getting a “fixed fee” for your SAS 70 audit ensures that costs are contained, and you have an exact idea of what you will be paying for the audit. SAS 70 audits that do not include expenses will ending costing data centers approximately an additional 20% or more over the original agreed fee. Hourly rates for auditing data centers should be considered a thing of the past-work hard to get a fixed. fee.

3. Scope the audit correctly by making sure the CPA firm conducting the SAS 70 audit includes the following areas for examination and testing:

• Executive Tone
• Human Resources
• Customer Contract Process
• Customer Provisioning Process
• Incident Management
• Change Management
• Logical Security
• Network Security
• Physical Security
• Environmental Security
• Computer Operations

There also a number of Data Center best practices that should be in place for helping facilitate the overall success of the SAS 70 audit.

To learn more about SAS 70 audits or to receive a SAS 70 sample report, visit the official SAS 70 Resource Guide.

Gramm Leach Bliley Act (GLBA) Compliance & SAS 70

The Gramm Leach Bliley Act, commonly known as GLBA, has certain provisions that require organizations, such as financial institutions (bank, online trading entities) to protect confidential consumer information. Unfortunately, like much of the legislation that ushers out of the halls of Congress, it can be quite vague, allowing users of these very legislative laws to implement them as they see fit. Just look at HIPAA, more than a decade later, it still is looked upon as a large, encompassing, and bureaucratic law that is still being defined.

GLBA has gained some clarity in the past few years, thanks in part to the rise of the SAS 70 auditing standard along with the advent of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002. In short, SAS 70 audits are compliance audits conducted on organizations (known simply as “service organizations”) for ensuring they have a strong system of internal controls. These very financial institutions that sell and offer services to consumers that are “financial” in nature, must be in compliance with the GLBA provisions.

One of the best ways for testing for GLBA compliance is to have a SAS 70 Type II audit conducted on the financial organization that is offering financial products or services to the consumer. To learn more about GLBA and SAS 70, learn about the Privacy Rule of GLBA and SAS 70 and learn about the Safeguards rule of GLBA and SAS 70.

SAS 70 Audits | Tips on Preparing Your Organization

SAS 70 audits are being performed on many service organizations in today’s growing regulatory compliance economy. From federal legislation, such as Sarbanes-Oxley to HIPAA, the SAS 70 auditing standard has been pushed to the forefront of the business arena. It’s becoming such a big requirement now that many request for proposals (RFP) are demanding that a service organization be SAS 70 compliant for even bidding on work or submitting a proposal.

So let’s erase some myths and misconceptions about the SAS 70 auditing standard. First and foremost, the audit can be done in an efficient, cost effective manner, provided you find a firm that has a good working knowledge of the SAS 70 auditing standard AND your industry. Put both of those variables together, and you should get a good fee from a quality auditor who truly knows what they are doing.

Secondly, you don’t have to do a SAS 70 Type I first if you need a SAS 70 Type II. Why waste thousands of dollars on a Type I when it’s not really what you needed? Some CPA firms will try and sell you the full package, often including a Type I by stating its needed to begin the audit process. What you need to start with instead is a SAS 70 Readiness Assessment, which will get your organization up to speed and ready for the actual SAS 70 Type II audit.

Lastly, SAS 70 audits can be a reasonable financial proposition, if you use a firm with experience that has a working, scalable model, resulting in efficiency and cost-effectiveness.

If you want to learn more about SAS 70 audits, visit the official SAS 70 resource center where you can receive SAS 70 sample reports for review.

SAS 70 Audits and Third Party Administrators (TPA)

As a SAS 70 auditor for many years, i’ve seen a huge increase in the number of third party administrators (TPA) that are required to go through a SAS 70 Type I or SAS 70 Type II audit. Man of these TPA organizations are considered small, with limited budgets, thus they voice a great deal of frustration about the time and costs of this highly specialized audit process. What’s worse, many feel the value of the audit is simply lacking, as many CPA firms do not have the knowledge or background sufficient for auditing a Third Party Administrator (TPA).

With that said, it’s important you properly assess the value of the CPA firm for their overall expertise and knowledge for a TPA. The term TPA is a broad and much overused term, based on the fact that many organizations “administer” some kind of business function of claim, ranging from property and casualty to self funded health and benefits claims.

When assessing a CPA firm, ask them how many SAS 70 audits they have conducted on a TPA and also ask them if they can provide you with a SAS 70 sample report, whereby you can actually see and visualize their expertise.

Also, ask them for a fixed fee, as SAS 70 pricing is now becoming a very important issue for budget minded Third Party Administrators (TPA).

To learn more about SAS 70 audits, visit the official SAS 70 Resource guide, where helpful information awaits any interested reader.

Data Centers & SAS70 Audits | How to Prepare for the Audit

Data centers are increasingly being called upon to be SAS70 Type I or Type II compliant. It stems primarily from the rapid growth of compliance legislation, along with the advent of many industries, particularly Software as a Service (SaaS), that require services from data centers and co-location entities. Moreover, today’s data centers provide a wide array of services, and as such, client using these very services often have to adhere to regulatory compliance mandates also. Ultimately, this has a downstream effect that places data centers on the compliance radar, with SAS70 audits commonly being the default compliance tool used for evaluating their internal control structure.

Additionally, because no two SAS70 audits are truly identical, and because a SAS70 audit should be customized to reflect specific industry needs, it’s important to note what is considered as an acceptable baseline scope for SAS70 audits on data centers. Thus, the areas of executive tone, human resources, incident management, change management, logical security, network security, physical security, environmental security, and computer operations form the basis of the audit for purposes of scope. Please keep in mind, this a generally accepted scope, which can increase or decrease based primarily on what is driving the requirements for the audit itself.

To gain a greater understanding of your organization’s SAS70 needs, it would be helpful for you to learn about what SAS70 is and also obtaining SAS70 sample reports, which are an excellent tool for learning more about this type of audit.

SAS70 Audit Guide | Section 6.0 | SAS70 Glossary of Terms

If you want to learn about SAS70 Type I & Type II audits, then it’s a good idea to gain a thorough understanding of the terminology used for the SAS70 auditing standard. There’s much technical jargon and terms to be mastered for helping truly understand SAS70 audits. Furthermore, the more you fully comprehend what these items mean, the better armed and prepared you will be for the audit.

The SAS70 glossary of terms serves to provide an understanding of the most common terms and phrases used not only by auditors, but also everyone involved in the SAS70 process. For example, do you truly understand the definition of internal controls? Do you know the difference between a service organization and a user organization? The SAS70 glossary will help define these differences.

Also, if you want to learn more about SAS70, such as pricing along with receiving SAS70 sample reports, then the official SAS70 resource guide is your one stop shop for learning all you need to know about this highly specialized auditing standard.

SAS70 Audit Guide | Section 5.0 | SAS70 Roadmap for Compliance

SAS70 Type I & Type II audits can be daunting indeed to many service organizations, but they shouldn’t be. The more you learn about what SAS70 is, the better prepared you will be for going through a SAS70 audit. Let’s start with the basics, that is, educate yourself on what a SAS70 Type I & Type II audit is, and what are the differences.

Furthermore, obtain SAS70 sample reports electronically to see what a final SAS70 service auditors report actually looks like. Additionally, learn about what it takes in the step by step process for undertaking a SAS70 audit. There are many different stages, activities, and deliverables that comprise of a SAS70 audit, so its a good idea to educate yourself on what they are, when they occur, what to expect, and what the commitment is from your organization in terms of manpower and resources.

Beginning with a SAS 70 readiness questionnaire assessment, then culminating with the delivery of the actual service auditor’s report, you need to learn firsthand what’s involved for this type of an audit.

You can also learn more by visiting the official SAS70 resource guide, where a wealth of information is available, such as white papers on SAS70 along with current industry news affecting the auditing standard itself.

SAS70 Audit Guide | Section 4.0 | SAS70 Sample Reports

You can obtain SAS70 sample reports if you are interested in learning more about the SAS70 auditing standard. Many service organizations have to go through a SAS70 audit and would like to learn more about the auditing standard. Thus, a SAS70 Type II example report, which can be obtained from the official SAS70 Resource Guide, will give readers an in-depth understanding of the inner workings of a SAS70 audit, along with providing an excellent example of what the contents of a report are.

SAS 70 sample reports can also help better educate your organization on the auditing standard, ultimately giving you more knowledge and understanding of the audit when you begin the selection process of finding a CPA provider to conduct the SAS70 Type I or Type II audit for your organization.

Additionally, current white papers along with various information on relevant industry news is also available for learning more about SAS70 audits both Type I and Type II audits. Current industries being heavily affected by the SAS70 auditing standard are financial services, information, and health care. The past decade has seen numerous federals laws and legislations implemented that have placed a large emphasis on security, privacy, and an organization’s overall control environment. What’s more, SAS70 audits have quickly become the default tool used to ensure service organizations are in compliance with these ever expanding regulatory compliance laws.