What is SSAE 16?

The Statement on Standards for Attestation Engagements No. 16 (SSAE 16) is a set of auditing standards and guidance published by the Auditing Standards Board (ASB) of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA).

Auditors use SSAE 16 as a guide when creating two specific audit reports: The first is a snapshot to reflect the status of an organization’s controls on a particular day, and the second is to incorporate historical data that reflects how controls have changed over time. Auditing standards, like SSAE 16, are used by auditors to guide the discovery of controls, including security controls, in all types of organizations, such as data centers, internet service providers (ISPs) and other entities that incorporate information security controls. The use of such standards is important in order to help both organizations and auditors in demonstrating information security compliance with regulations, such as Sarbanes-Oxley.

Clients use the SSAE 16 standard to pursue a SOC 1 report.