Compliance Cost for SOC 2 and Security Audits
Compliance cost in the first year is mostly preparation, and the audit fee is the smaller share. Readiness work, software and testing can add as much again as the audit fee itself.
Where compliance cost goes
The audit fee depends on the firm you hire: specialist SOC 2 firms charge the least and the largest accounting firms the most. Around it sit a readiness assessment, compliance automation software, a penetration test and, for some companies, a consultant or new device management. Your own team's time is the line that never appears on an invoice, about 100 to 300 hours in the first year.
Type 1 or Type 2
A Type 1 report checks that controls are designed properly on a single date. A Type 2 report tests whether they worked over an observation window of 3 to 12 months, and costs 30% to 50% more.
Pricing your own audit
The SOC 2 compliance calculator starts from the audit firm and report type, adds the trust services criteria in scope and lets you switch each preparation cost on or off.
Year two
A report covers 12 months, so the audit comes back every year. Readiness work does not repeat, but the audit, the software and usually the penetration test do, so the second year is lower than the first and still a real budget line.