ISAE 3402: Outsourcing Activities

Today audit is a mandatory part of the activity of every independent contractor. The services of an enterprise that properly controls outsourcing within the firm are in demand in the market, and large corporations have their own divisions that periodically monitor these processes and help improve them. At the same time, adherence to established standards and best practices is a prerequisite for conducting an audit in the most optimal way and of high quality.

ISAE 3402 is a generally recognized standard that provides assurances to customers and their auditors regarding the internal controls in place in a service organization. ISAE 3402 standard regulates the issues of checking the company’s internal control system in terms of services that company provides to its clients and which are connected with process of preparing the financial statements of the company’s clients.

ISAE 3402 Fundamentals for Practical Application

Organizations are turning to outsourcing services for supporting key business activities in order focusing on getting key goals, reduce costs, and quickly deploy new application usage. With growing level of global competition, new threats, regulatory demands, and management responsibilities, including those for outsourced procedures, organizations are increasingly focusing on monitoring and managing the risks associated with relationships with their external suppliers.

Outsourcing models evolution has replaced SAS70 with new standards for reporting administration in service firms to meet accuracy requests of outsourcing consumers. ISAE 3402 was developed by IAASB.

SOC reporting can better service organization’s market position and attract new clients by increasing confidence in efficiency of internal controls on service firm’s side, as well as outsourced procedures transparency. SOC certification reduces the number and scope of audits of service providers by internal and external auditors of their clients.

Outsourcing Services Controlling and Influence

• ISAE 3402 addresses issues connected with reports preparation (audit reports) on the general descriptions and operational services control effectiveness. Services can be of very different directions – from conducting single deals to taking over a separate business line of your client.
• ISA aside, ISAE 3402 is the first new standard to be developed as part of a broader program. Its goal is to create a unified international base for this direction. In this regard, the Council is very interested in the responsiveness of the practitioners, and in 2013, based on comments obtained, will return to discussing the practical aspects of using the new standard.

Compliance with generally accepted auditing norms, as well as close interaction between the service provider and the client, is a kind of guarantee the client can use results of services provided in practice without conducting his/her own audit, and that these results will have the same weight in any other country in the world where these standards are approved. Successfully passed audit according to ISAE 3402 is a confirmation of the fact that the company is moving in the right direction in ensuring services quality.

ISAE 3402 is an important step for the further development of the company as a contractor in this industry. The experts confirmed that compliance with the specified act indicates that the software and outsourcing services provided to banks are properly controlled. This will be a good guarantee for even more confidence of partners and customers.

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