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Third Party Assurance
Outsourcing solutions have evolved into a strategic business practice and outsource service providers (OSPs) are having a greater impact on their clients’ internal control frameworks. As the role of OSPs continues to grow, the need for comprehensive and flexible third-party assurance reporting grows with it.
A third party assurance report provides assurance over the design and/or operating effectiveness of a service organisation’s internal controls to achieve common business objectives of interest to customers/users of the services. This is increasingly important as organisations are now more dependent on third parties to fulfil part or all of their critical business processes right across their value chain, including those that directly impact users of the services.
Optimizing Third-Party Assurance Reporting
Third parties can play a vital role in performing core and non-core functions to help companies increase their efficiency and drive performance. This growing reliance on OSPs has led to greater demand for third-party assurance programs and solutions.
A multidirectional approach is required to manage these complex relationships because of the global nature, risks, and industry regulations associated with outsourcing. Third-party assurance reporting can help OSPs clearly define, assess, and communicate their approach and control environment to their clients.
Since the circumstances around each OSP relationship are unique, a leading OSP process leverages a tailored reporting approach that uses multiple reporting methods. By taking the necessary steps to identify the need for third-party assurance reporting and the appropriate reporting type, the OSP (and the associated users) can determine whether their risk and compliance needs are addressed. Anticipating and managing these multiple risks is vital to effective third-party relationships.
For large, complex service organizations, a thoughtful approach to assurance can save time and money, which can lead to more satisfied clients and prospects. Deloitte’s Third-Party Assurance services help clients optimize their third-party reporting by establishing a process that drills into understanding, operationalizing, enhancing, and continuously monitoring their third-party assurance approach.
The Deloitte Difference
Deloitte conducts independent assessments of an organization’s control procedures to establish if existing controls/processes meet management objectives and to demonstrate controls to customers and their auditors through reporting and integrated requirements.
Our Third-Party Assurance services provide value by helping clients with:
- Reporting and audit requirements: SOC 1, 2, and 3 reports (based on SSAE 18, and ISAE 3402 guidance); Custody Rule; agreed-upon procedures (AUP); and other attest reports.
- Minimizing audit requests: Third-party services can reduce the number of requests to audit an OSP’s internal controls by different customers and their auditors.
- Third-party assurance readiness and optimization: Readiness assessments can provide an OSP’s management with the insight and tools needed to address reporting requirements. Third-party assurance optimization identifies areas of efficiency that increases effectiveness for users, reigns in the cost of compliance, and streamlines reporting.
To learn more about how Deloitte’s Third-Party Assurance services can help your organization, contact us.
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