Security and compliance are more important now than ever. Whether you’re dealing with HIPAA, GDPR, NIST, or CCPA, ensuring your organization is compliant with regulations can make or break trust with your customers and partners. A question that often comes up when considering compliance is should I pursue self-attestation or enlist an independent auditor?

What is Self-Attestation?

Self-attestation is when your organization assesses internally its compliance with a specific framework like HIPAA or GDPR and documents its findings. While it can save costs upfront by eliminating the need for an external auditor, self-attestation can have some drawbacks.

• Lack of Third-Party Validation: If you don’t have independent verification, stakeholders and partners might question the accuracy of your self-attestation.

• Limited Leverage with Stakeholders: Reports that are self-attested may not carry the same weight during conversations with clients and vendors.

• Unintended Gaps: Teams who assess internally may overlook potential gaps or areas for improvement due to lack of specific expertise in the framework or bias.

Why an Auditor Adds Value

On the other side of the coin, using an independent auditor provides certainties like an unbiased, expert assessment of your organization’s compliance posture. While it may have higher upfront costs, the benefits outweigh the cost of reliability and peace of mind.

Key benefits of using an external auditor include:

• Independent Validation: An auditor can provide an objective review of your organization’s adherence to any framework like SOC, ISO, HIPAA, or GDPR.

• Stronger Customer Confidence: Clients and partners will feel more confident knowing that a certified auditor has verified your organization’s compliance measures.

• Actionable Insights: Auditors not only identify potential gaps, but they also provide recommendations for improvement.

• Audit-Backed Reports: Having an official audit report adds credibility to your security posture, which can be an incredibly useful tool when negotiating with potential clients.

The Difference in Reports: Self-Attestation vs. Auditor Reports

While both reports can be useful in many circumstances, there is a stark difference between the two. A self-attested report is usually a high-level document that has been prepared internally and has the potential to not include important detailed evidence or testing. On the other hand, an auditor's report will include thorough documentation of the tests performed, findings, recommendations and certifications. Because of the detailed nature it enhances every claim with definable evidence. 

This level of depth gives stakeholders confidence in the organization’s security and compliance. With an external audit report, your organization can say “Here’s proof, verified by experts, that we meet specific standards of security.” This can be invaluable to closing deals, renewing contracts, or simply reassuring your customers data is safe.

Choose Johanson Group for All Things Compliance

It can be extremely tempting to save costs by internally attesting your own organization, the long-term value of an audit-backed report will always outweigh the cost difference. Not only will it enhance your reputation, but it will provide your organization with a new level of transparency and assurance that is hard to match with self-attestation. In today’s world where security  and trust are most important, it’s worth considering the added peace of mind that comes with an external auditor.

At Johanson Group, we specialize in delivering comprehensive audit and assurance for all major security frameworks like SOC, ISO, PCI, HIPAA, GDPR, and CCPA. Our audit-backed reports not only ensure compliance, but help you build lasting trust with clients and stakeholders.