Ashland Partners’ provides SOC 1 examinations and customized internal control services to investment management firms to meet the requirements of industry regulators, organization agreements, investors, or as a corporate governance control without the overhead of many of our competitors.

The SOC 1 Internal Controls Examination (formerly known as an SSAE 16 exam) is an in-depth examination of a service organization’s control objectives and control activities related to a user entity’s financial reporting and can only be performed by a CPA firm.

Services

SOC 1/Internal Controls

With a focus on the investment industry, Ashland Partners specializes in providing these types of examinations to investment advisors, as well as fund administrators and transfer agents. Our professionals have developed a unique perspective on the operational challenges and best practices of firms ranging in size from just under $1 billion to over $350 billion in assets under management.

The need for this type of assurance reporting can be driven by the following reasons:
  • The increasingly regulated corporate environment your clients operate in is forcing them to consider how you demonstrate control effectiveness over the operations they have outsourced to you;
  • A need for clients to understand fully, and be confident with, the effectiveness of outsourced processes;
  • Demand in the marketplace for a service organizations to provide a recognized controls assurance report to retain and win business; and
  • Accountability for demonstrating management of outsourced risk now extends beyond pure financial risk to assess areas such as Data Security.
Firms that undergo a SOC 1 examination will receive a specific report on the controls at a service organization. A SOC 1 allows for a Type 1 or a Type 2 report.

A Type 1 report opines as to the fair representation of a firm’s description of controls and whether or not they are suitably designed to achieve a firm’s control objectives as of a point in time.

A Type 2 report goes a step further and opines on the effectiveness of the controls in place over a specific period of time.

For further information or to discuss how we can help you, please contact us.