Compliance & Certification

SOC 2 Type I & Type II Readiness

AICPA Trust Services Criteria, evidence-ready in 90 days.

Overview

We prepare SaaS and technology companies for SOC 2 Type I and Type II audits across Security, Availability, Confidentiality, Processing Integrity and Privacy.

Lead partner for this service

Naval Jadhav— Director — GRC & Compliance

Experienced governance, risk management, and compliance (GRC) leader with over 15 years of industry expertise. He heads deep-dive regulatory compliance, data privacy, and AI governance implementations at MAST Consulting.

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In depth

A four-layer view of this service.

Context, scope, delivery and impact — written for buyers, boards, auditors and search engines alike.

Layer 01 — Context

Context & Why It Matters

SOC 2 is the audit of choice for SaaS, fintech, healthtech and B2B technology vendors selling into North America, Europe and increasingly the GCC.

Enterprise buyers — banks, insurers, healthcare networks and Fortune 1000 procurement — routinely require a current SOC 2 Type II report before signing a master services agreement.
The 2017 Trust Services Criteria (revised 2022) plus the 2022 points of focus form the audit baseline; AICPA-registered CPA firms perform the examination.

Layer 02 — Scope

Scope & What It Covers

We cover all five Trust Services Criteria — Security (mandatory), Availability, Confidentiality, Processing Integrity and Privacy — including the common criteria (CC1–CC9) on control environment, communication, risk assessment, monitoring, control activities, logical/physical access, system operations, change management and risk mitigation.

Deliverables include the system description, control matrix, evidence repository design, vendor risk assessments, sub-service organisation carve-outs, and bridge-letter management between annual reports.

Layer 03 — Approach

Our Approach & Delivery

Three-stage delivery: readiness assessment, control build, audit liaison.

We map your existing AWS/Azure/GCP controls, identity providers, CI/CD pipelines and ticketing tools to TSC criteria so 70–90 percent of evidence is collected automatically through tools like Vanta, Drata, Secureframe, Tugboat or in-house pipelines.
For Type II, we manage the 3-, 6- or 12-month observation window, perform monthly control walkthroughs, and prepare the auditor information request list.

Layer 04 — Impact

Business Impact & Outcomes

First-time SOC 2 Type I in 60–90 days, Type II within 6–9 months of starting.

Direct revenue impact: SOC 2-ready vendors close enterprise deals 40 percent faster on average, unlock six- and seven-figure contracts gated on the report, and shorten security review cycles from 60 days to under two weeks.
Ongoing the report becomes a sales asset published in your trust centre and shared under NDA.

At a glance

Process flow, compliance checklist and benefits.

A visual breakdown of how the engagement runs, what evidence we leave behind, and the business outcomes you can defend at the board.

Process flow

How we deliver SOC 2 Type I & Type II Readiness.

01
Scoping
Select TSC categories and define system description.
02
Readiness Assessment
Gap analysis with prioritised remediation roadmap.
03
Control Build
Policy, process and tooling implementation.
04
Type I Audit
Point-in-time audit support.
05
Type II Observation
3 to 12 month observation window with evidence review.

Compliance checklist

What auditors and regulators expect to see.

AICPA Trust Services Criteria — what your CPA firm will request before issuing an opinion.

System description (Section III)
Components, boundaries, sub-service organisations and CUECs documented.
Control matrix mapped to TSC
CC1 to CC9 plus selected additional criteria (A/C/PI/P).
Evidence repository
Centralised, auditor-accessible and timestamped — Vanta, Drata, AuditBoard or equivalent.
Vendor and sub-service risk reviews
Annual reviews, SOC reports collected and gaps tracked.
Change and access management evidence
Tickets, approvals, code review and access provisioning logs.
Incident response runbooks and tests
Tabletop or live tests with after-action reports.
Business continuity and DR tests
Annual DR test results and lessons-learned actions.
Bridge-letter and gap-period plan
Strategy to cover months between report dates.

Benefits

What you walk away with.

Unblock enterprise sales cycles

Required by Fortune 1000 and most regulated buyers before MSA signing.

Reduce questionnaire load

Single SOC 2 Type II report replaces dozens of bespoke security reviews.

Predictable annual cadence

Type II observation windows fit a 6 to 12 month operating rhythm.

Investor and board confidence

Recognised assurance signal for Series B+ diligence and M&A.

Platform for ISO 27001 and HITRUST

70 percent plus control overlap reduces incremental cost for added frameworks.

Continuous monitoring playbook

Evidence collection automated where the tooling allows.

FAQ

Frequently asked questions.

Type I or Type II first?+

Most clients begin with Type I to validate design, then move to a 6-month Type II observation window.

Which auditors do you work with?+

We work with all Big 4 and major boutique CPA firms. We help you select based on industry, geography and price.

How long does SOC 2 readiness take?+

Typically 90 days from kickoff to Type I attestation. Type II then runs for a 3 to 12 month observation window — most enterprise buyers expect a minimum 6-month period.

What does SOC 2 cost?+

Readiness fees scale with scope (which TSCs, how many systems) and existing maturity. Auditor fees are separate — typically USD 25k–60k for Type II at mid-size scale. We provide a fixed-fee readiness proposal after scoping.

Do we need Vanta, Drata or AuditBoard?+

Helpful but not mandatory. We are tool-agnostic — we run programmes on Vanta, Drata, Sprinto, Secureframe and AuditBoard, or with no platform if the control surface is small.

Which Trust Services Criteria should we include?+

Security (Common Criteria) is mandatory. We recommend Availability for SaaS, Confidentiality for any customer data, and Privacy / Processing Integrity only when contractually required.

Can we leverage ISO 27001 for SOC 2?+

Yes — 70%+ control overlap. We run combined programmes that produce both a SOC 2 Type II report and ISO 27001 certificate from one body of evidence.

Will SOC 2 satisfy our enterprise customers?+

SOC 2 Type II is the default assurance signal for North American buyers. International buyers may additionally require ISO 27001 — we run both in parallel where needed.

Methodology

Week-by-week, how SOC 2 Type runs.

A disciplined sequence that compresses 6–9 month programmes into a fixed-fee, board-defensible engagement.

Week 1–2
Step 1
Trust Services Criteria selection
Decision on Type 1 vs Type 2, selection of Security plus optional Availability, Confidentiality, Processing Integrity, Privacy categories.
Week 3–5
Step 2
Control design
Common Criteria and supplemental criteria mapped to your existing controls, design gaps remediated, evidence collection process automated.
Week 6–10
Step 3
Implementation & evidence
Controls operated for the observation window (3–12 months for Type 2), evidence collected via continuous monitoring tools.
Week 11–14
Step 4
CPA audit
AICPA-licensed CPA partner conducts the SOC 2 examination, exceptions managed, report issued.

Deliverables

What we leave behind.

Audit-grade artefacts your team continues to operate after handover — not a one-shot consulting deck.

Trust Services Criteria mapping

Common Criteria 1–9 plus selected categories with control descriptions and owners.

System description

Section 3 narrative covering infrastructure, software, people, procedures and data.

Control evidence library

Sampled evidence per control, structured for the observation window.

SOC 2 report

Type 1 or Type 2 report signed by an AICPA-licensed CPA firm.

Regulators & frameworks

One engagement, mapped to every applicable obligation.

Evidence designed once, reused across regulators — reducing audit fatigue and total cost of compliance.

Framework	Name	Why it matters
AICPA SSAE 18	American Institute of CPAs attestation standard	Governing standard for the SOC 2 examination.
AICPA TSC 2017	Trust Services Criteria	The control framework SOC 2 evaluates against.
ISO 27001	Information Security Management Systems	75% control overlap — most clients run a combined ISO 27001 + SOC 2 programme.

Engagement tiers

Pick the model that fits your scope.

Fixed-fee where scope is clear, phased programmes where complexity demands governance — never time-and-materials drift.

Fixed fee

SOC 2 Type 1

Point-in-time attestation, fastest path to a customer-facing report.

Programme + observation

SOC 2 Type 2

Operational effectiveness over 3–12 months — required by most enterprise buyers.

Programme delivery

ISO 27001 + SOC 2 combined

Single ISMS feeding both certification and attestation, reducing total cost 30–40%.

Why MAST

What separates this engagement from the alternative.

AICPA-licensed CPA partner

Reports issued by our partner CPA firm — fully attestable, accepted by enterprise procurement globally.

Evidence automation

We instrument your stack (AWS, Azure, GCP, Okta, Jira, GitHub) with continuous evidence collection — no last-minute screenshot scrambles.

Combined ISO 27001 path

If you also need ISO 27001, we run one programme producing both outputs with shared evidence.

Compare

DIY vs Big Four vs MAST.

An honest, side-by-side comparison of what each delivery model typically gets you.

Dimension	DIY / Internal	Big Four	MAST
CPA firm	Hired late, expensive	In-house, premium	Partner CPA — boutique pricing
Observation window prep	Manual screenshots	Bespoke tooling	Automated continuous evidence
ISO 27001 reuse	Two separate projects	Separately scoped	Combined programme, single ISMS

Extended FAQs

The questions experienced buyers actually ask.

Type 1 or Type 2 first?+

If you need a customer-facing report quickly (sales blocker), start with Type 1 (point in time, 4–6 weeks). Type 2 follows after a 3–12 month observation window. Enterprise buyers generally require Type 2 within 12 months of Type 1.

Which Trust Services categories should we include?+

Security is mandatory. Availability matters for SaaS uptime commitments. Confidentiality matters when handling customer data classified beyond public. Processing Integrity is rare. Privacy is required if you process personal data and want to avoid a separate ISO 27701.

Can we use AWS Artifact / Azure compliance documentation?+

Yes — we apply the AICPA's complementary user entity controls model, inheriting hyperscaler controls and only auditing the controls you own. This cuts scope substantially for cloud-native businesses.

Take it with you

Download the SOC 2 Type I 1-pager.

Methodology, deliverables, pricing bands and reference architecture on a single board-ready page.

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Take the next step

Choose how you'd like to engage on SOC 2 Type I & Type II Readiness.

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Scoped within 48 hours

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Continue your journey

Related services buyers of this engagement pair with.

Most clients combine this engagement with one or more of the services below — a natural next step once foundations are in place.

Frameworks & regulators

Standards and regulations this service maps to.

Direct links into the relevant clauses, controls and regulator obligations covered by this engagement.

Deep dive

Explore every facet of SOC 2 Type I & Type II Readiness.

Methodology, deliverables, week-by-week timeline, pricing models, industry context, tooling and extended FAQs — each on its own page for fast reference and deep linking.

Methodology

SOC 2 Type I & Type II Readiness — methodology

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Deliverables

SOC 2 Type I & Type II Readiness — deliverables

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Timeline

SOC 2 Type I & Type II Readiness — timeline

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Pricing & Engagement

SOC 2 Type I & Type II Readiness — pricing & engagement

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