Why are customers asking for SAS 70 Reports?
Although SAS 70 Reports have been in existence for almost two decades, service organizations are seeing increased requests as a result of privacy laws and the increased scrutiny companies face to verify they have strong internal controls over all of their accounting and IT processes. Publicly-traded companies, in particular, are required to have SAS 70 Audits conducted on service organizations included within their internal control environment. Many small and medium size companies are currently experiencing a trickle down of compliance requirements from their larger customers; even though they have may never have had their financial statements audited and are not publicly traded. SAS 70 Audits are predominantly affecting IT companies, benefit plan administrators, billing and claim adjudication providers, and payroll service providers particularly hard.
