Top 25 firm Armanino released Audit Ally, a solution that automates many parts of the SOC 2 examination process.
The new software, available for sale to other firms, offers automated data collection to streamline tasks like control monitoring and audit reporting for Service Organization Control examinations; access to a central hub for their company's documentation plus its security and compliance information in real time; the ability to engage in two-way communication for on-the-spot issue resolution; and full cycle support for both Type 1 and Type 2 examinations.
According to Armanino, previous SOC 2 technology has been developed by software engineers, and this is the first such tool to come from an accounting firm instead. The software was designed entirely in-house in a project led by AJ Yawn, who joined Armanino last year as partner-in-charge of product and innovation to spearhead this initiative in particular.
"Preparing readiness and leading SOC 2 examinations is a difficult and important job, and Audit Ally vastly improves their experience while enhancing quality further," said Yawn. "With Audit Ally, we will deploy further updates to the technology that will only improve the service clients receive, and we see this as a long-term technological advancement for the industry, meaning this is just the start."
Demand for SOC 2 examinations, which pertain to digital trust and security, has been growing over the years, according to
"Armanino prides itself on not just looking around the curve and anticipating the future, but building it, and Audit Ally is a prime example of how we innovate," says Matt Armanino, CEO of Armanino. "By pairing our software development talent with our assurance expertise, we're able to develop proprietary tools that we believe will be a game-changer for SOC 2 compliance auditing, helping clients save time while allowing auditors to produce high-quality reports."
