Abacus Group, a provider of hosted IT solutions for hedge funds and private equity funds, has completed the Service Organization Controls (SOC1) Type II reports for its hedge fund application hosting and managed cloud services.
Following the successful completion of the SSAE16 Type II examinations in June 2012, Abacus became one of the first private cloud providers for hedge funds to complete both SAS70 Type I and SSAE16 Type II reports, ensuring the highest level of security and internal controls.
Abacus builds upon its commitment for security and control by completing annual audits. The most recent, the SOC1 report, was conducted between 1 May 2012 and 30 April 2013 by an independent third-party auditor. It falls under SSAE16 guidance and incorporates a full audit of a firm’s financial statements. SSAE16 “Reporting on Controls at a Service Organization” was implemented by the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants, replacing the SAS70 examination as the leading examination of internal controls at a service organisation that are likely to be relevant to financial audits.
SOC1 reports are regarded as the industry standard for private cloud service providers offering application hosting and managed services for hedge funds and private equity funds. The examination ensures that Abacus employs robust control objectives across key functions that support its client offerings, including:
· Intrusion detection
· Monitoring
· Network security
· Data backup
“Today’s challenging financial market landscape has made it more difficult for hedge funds, particularly start-ups, to operate efficiently as a result of increasing regulatory oversight and more demand for transparency from investors,” says Mark Kenney, director of operations, Abacus Group. “With cloud computing and infrastructure services emerging as key resources for firms, it is imperative that service providers ensure they have robust internal controls and strong security measures in place.”
