Certification & Attestation

Certification is a formal, structured, and comprehensive evaluation of an organization that culminates in the granting of official recognition for compliance with certain regulatory, industry, or international standards. The whole process is performed by an accredited third-party authority, which based on a detailed assessment of the organization's controls, processes, and documentation decides if the organization complies with the required framework.

In most cases, this evaluation includes the examination of internal policies, interviews of staff members, assessment of technical and operational management, and further investigation of the staff's and management's commitment towards the criteria set out by the organization in question. Consequently, certification must be understood as a rigorous and in-depth endeavor that goes far beyond the surface and gives credit to the organization's GRC management system.

Upon successful certification, the company is granted a certification agreement, which is a document that confirms compliance in a formal manner. Usually, the authorization is valid for a certain period—from one to three years—after which the certification holder is obliged to undertake surveillance audits or full recertification that will confirm the organization’s status.

Besides making the certified organization more attractive and trustworthy, certification can become an effective tool for fulfilling regulatory requirements and for opening new market doors. At the same time, certified companies generally have easier access to capital and are able to gain customer trust more effectively. Certification is also a source of competitive advantage in sectors where market standards like ISO 27001, PCI DSS, and ISO 9001 exist and are widely applied.

Attestation is a professional engagement where an independent qualified expert, usually a CPA, auditor, or authorized assessor, provides an official opinion on specific statements, controls, or processes declared by an organization. Unlike certification, attestation focuses on verification and validation of specific assertions that are usually financially related but may also be security or operational-related.

In the course of an attestation engagement, the attesting professional gathers evidence about the subject matter (usually following the relevant auditing or assurance standards) and performs tests. Examination of documentation, control testing, risk assessment, and veracity of management’s claims are examples of such work. The final product of this work is the attestation report, which provides support of the expert’s opinion that the controls or statements that have been reviewed are reliable and have been implemented effectively.

Examples include SOC 1, SOC 2, and SOC 3 reports, cybersecurity attestation reports, and financial attestation statements. These reports are descriptive and informative, offering transparent insight into the organization’s internal control environment. Hence, these reports act as a trust bank widely relied on by clients, partners, regulators, and investors.

Through the provision of strongly independent and objective assurance on the issue of concern, attestation becomes a major lever in the trust-building process and a very useful instrument in today’s compliance and risk management landscape.