ISAE Audit Assurance & Audit Readiness

ISAE 3402 is an internationally recognised assurance standard used to report on the design and operating effectiveness of internal controls within organisations that provide services impacting their clients’ financial reporting or business-critical operations.

It is commonly required by customers, regulators, and auditors where trust, governance, and control assurance are essential — including in financial services, technology providers, payroll processors, managed service providers, and outsourced service environments.

ISAE 3402 provides independent assurance that your organisation has appropriate controls in place to manage risks such as:

• Control failures in financial or operational processes

• Errors or weaknesses in outsourced services

• Fraud risks and lack of oversight

• Inadequate governance, documentation, or accountability

• Regulatory and contractual non-compliance

Why organisations pursue ISAE 3402 assurance

Achieving ISAE 3402 assurance can help organisations:

• Demonstrate strong governance and control maturity to customers and stakeholders

• Reduce client audit requests through independent third-party assurance

• Strengthen trust when selling into regulated or high-assurance markets

• Support compliance with legal, contractual, and regulatory obligations

• Protect reputation by evidencing control effectiveness

• Gain competitive advantage in procurement and tender processes

How VMGroup supports ISAE 3402 readiness and audits

VMGroup supports organisations across the full ISAE 3402 lifecycle — from early readiness through to external audit support.

Our support includes:

• Current-state assessment of your control environment against ISAE 3402 expectations

• Gap analysis across governance, policies, procedures, and operational controls

• Support designing and documenting key controls (business, financial, and IT controls)

• Assistance developing control descriptions, narratives, and process documentation

• Guidance on building proportionate evidence collection processes

• Audit readiness preparation and pre-audit reviews

• Support responding to external auditor findings and remediation actions

Our approach focuses on helping organisations build practical, sustainable control environments that satisfy auditors while remaining operationally efficient.

Typical use cases

• Service organisations asked by customers to provide ISAE 3402 assurance

• SaaS, managed service, payroll, or outsourcing providers needing audit reports

• Organisations scaling rapidly and needing formalised controls

• Companies receiving repeated client audit requests

• Businesses preparing for enterprise contracts or regulated market entry

Deliverables

• ISAE 3402 readiness assessment report

• Gap analysis and prioritised remediation roadmap

• Control framework documentation and process narratives

• Evidence and artefact preparation guidance

• Pre-audit review and external auditor support

• Ongoing advisory for maintaining audit readiness year-on-year