Last reviewed 8 August 2026 by Tom McNamara. This page is reviewed quarterly; the next review is due November 2026. Market facts are date-stamped “as of 07-08-2026”.
If you run a software company in the UK or Ireland and a US enterprise buyer has just asked for your SOC 2 report, here is the short answer: SOC 2 is not a certification, no UK chartered accountant can sign one, and the market splits cleanly into two roles, a local readiness consultancy that prepares you, and a licensed US CPA firm that examines you and signs the report. Everything below explains how to buy each half well.
Does a UK or Irish company actually need SOC 2?
No law requires it, but a growing share of your revenue pipeline might. SOC 2 is a voluntary attestation created by the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA) under its attestation standards (AT-C 205, performed under SSAE 18), checked against the AICPA’s own SOC 2 guidance on 07-08-2026. It is not a substitute for GDPR compliance either (see the FAQs).
What drives it is procurement. The rule of thumb circulating among founders holds up: if your customers are primarily in North America, you need SOC 2; if primarily UK/EU, ISO 27001 is usually the first ask; sell both ways and you will end up with both. Founders and buyers describe SOC 2 as “table stakes” for US enterprise security reviews, which is practitioner sentiment rather than a measured market fact, while UK public sector procurement still tends to gate on Cyber Essentials and ISO 27001 (checked 07-08-2026).
One warning on terminology: several search-driven sites sell “SOC 2 Certification UK/Ireland” packages. There is no such thing. SOC 2 is an attestation report signed by a CPA; anyone selling you a “certificate” is mislabelling the product.
The two-role model: readiness consultancy vs CPA auditor
The most important thing to understand about buying SOC 2 is that two different organisations do two different jobs, and independence rules mean one cannot do both.
- The readiness consultancy scopes your system, maps controls to the Trust Services Criteria, builds your policies and evidence, runs the gap assessment and project-manages you to audit day. This is a genuinely local market in the UK and Ireland. A readiness firm cannot sign your report.
- The CPA auditor (service auditor) performs the examination and issues the opinion. Only a licensed CPA firm enrolled in AICPA peer review can sign a SOC 2 report (AICPA attestation standards, checked 07-08-2026). UK chartered accountants (ICAEW/ACCA) are not licensed by US state boards, so no native UK practice can sign one, and even Big Four opinions resolve to the US member firm: Deloitte’s SOC 2 work is performed by Deloitte & Touche LLP. Your UK auditor can issue an ISAE 3402 report, a different product.
Where Atoro sits: on the readiness side of that line. We run SOC 2 implementation and internal audit through to ongoing managed compliance with TrustOps. We do not, and never will, perform the attestation or sign your report. We prepare you, an independent CPA firm examines you, and that independence is what makes your report worth anything to a buyer.
“Can’t I just buy a GRC platform?”
Founders ask this constantly, in almost exactly these words: “Did you use a consultant or just a GRC platform when you went through SOC 2 at a small company?… the platform alone isn’t enough… I still need a consultant or vCISO… what did they actually do that the platform didn’t?”
The honest answer: compliance management and compliance expertise are two different things. The tool organises the mess; it doesn’t fix it. A platform collects evidence, maps controls and monitors integrations, genuinely useful. It does not tell you whether your scoping is defensible, whether your controls would survive an auditor’s sampling, or what to fix first when the gap assessment comes back ugly. The real question isn’t “which tool should I buy”, it’s “do I have someone who understands what a functioning compliance programme looks like?” For most sub-100-person software companies, the working answer is platform plus a readiness consultancy or vCISO, then an independent auditor.
Check who signs your report
The AICPA has a live notice (as of 07-08-2026) that it is investigating allegations about a compliance vendor offering SOC services, and will act against auditors who are unlicensed or not enrolled in peer review, referring unlicensed firms to state boards of accountancy. The AICPA names no vendor, and neither will we. The takeaway: before engaging an auditor, verify the firm is a licensed CPA firm enrolled in the AICPA Peer Review Program (peerreview.aicpa.org), and treat any suspiciously cheap bundled “platform + prep + audit” package as a prompt to ask exactly who signs the report.
SOC 2 auditors serving UK and Irish companies
Atoro is a readiness consultancy and cannot appear on this list. Nothing below is a paid placement.
The honest headline: the examination market is US-centric, and that is normal. US CPA firms dominate and mostly serve UK/IE clients remotely, though several have planted EMEA flags. We found no evidence of an independent UK-only practice signing SOC 2 reports (verified by absence as of 07-08-2026; if you find one, check which US-licensed entity signs).
US-headquartered CPA firms actively serving the UK/IE market:
- A-LIGN (Tampa), among the most onshore of the US specialists: EMEA HQ in Galway, Ireland since 2021, per IDA Ireland and Irish government releases, and a London office announced February 2026 citing 45% year-on-year EMEA new-bookings growth. A licensed CPA firm for SOC 1 and SOC 2 audits (checked 07-08-2026).
- Sensiba (San Jose, California), US CPA firm with an office in Dublin 2, one of two firms on this list with an Irish office, A-LIGN’s Galway EMEA HQ being the other. Describes itself as a Top 75 CPA firm and states that every SOC engagement is led by licensed CPAs. Offers SOC 1, SOC 2 and SOC 3 reporting (the firm’s own site and contact page, checked 08-08-2026).
- Schellman & Company (Tampa), global specialist SOC assessor serving international clients. A 2026 third-party list notes a London presence, but Schellman’s own locations page was unavailable when we checked on 07-08-2026, so treat the UK office as reported rather than confirmed by the firm.
- BARR Advisory (Kansas City), remote-first SOC 2 and ISO 27001 audit firm reporting clients in 20+ countries (third-party listing, checked 07-08-2026).
- Barnes Dennig (Cincinnati), runs a dedicated “SOC 2 Reports – Dublin (UK)” page offering SOC 1/2/3 audits to companies in Dublin and across the UK (the firm’s own page, checked 07-08-2026).
- Prescient Assurance (NYC) and Insight Assurance (Tampa), CPA-licensed firms reporting SOC audit delivery across the US, Europe and APAC (third-party listing, checked 07-08-2026).
- Big Four (US member firms), Deloitte, PwC and peers publicly offer SOC 2 examinations; engagements resolve to the US-licensed signing entity.
UK/Ireland-located practices (with the signing-authority caveat):
- Carr, Riggs & Ingram UK (London), the UK practice of a US CPA firm, offering SOC 2 examinations from London (directory listing, checked 07-08-2026).
- Forvis Mazars (UK & Ireland), runs a Third Party Assurance team in Dublin advertising SOC 1, SOC 2 and ISAE 3402 work, and appears in directories as a London SOC 2 auditor. One thing we could not verify: which network entity signs the report. Under AICPA rules the opinion must issue from a US-licensed CPA entity, so ask directly before engaging (checked 07-08-2026).
Will a buyer accept a report from a platform-partnered or specialist firm? This is the real founder anxiety: “would the reports from firms like [three named platform-partnered auditors] just get immediately thrown in the bin by a knowledgeable reviewer?” The evidence-based answer: no, a report from a licensed, peer-reviewed CPA firm is a valid SOC 2 report regardless of brand recognition. Validity comes from the licence, peer-review enrolment and AICPA standards, not the logo. Knowledgeable reviewers check the signing firm’s licence, whether scope and Trust Services Categories match your claims, and the exceptions in the opinion. Big Four brand helps mainly with the most conservative Fortune-100 procurement teams, at a heavy premium (estimated UK Type 2 fees: £50,000–£120,000+ Big Four versus roughly £12,000–£30,000 at specialists; directory estimates as of 07-08-2026, directional rather than quotes). US-market estimates put Type 2 at roughly $12,000–$20,000 for SMBs and $30,000–$100,000+ for larger environments. For the full cost picture, see SOC 2 certification cost.
SOC 2 readiness consultancies in the UK and Ireland
How we selected this list: UK- or Ireland-based firms publicly offering SOC 2 readiness, gap assessment or audit preparation, verified against their own sites or a government marketplace listing as of 07-08-2026. Firms using “SOC 2 certification” marketing were excluded on accuracy grounds.
Disclosure. This guide is published by Atoro, which is included in the comparison. We apply the stated criteria consistently, link to supporting evidence and identify claims we could not independently verify.
How this list is ordered. Atoro is first; the other providers follow alphabetically, described from their own published material.
Atoro (Ireland, UK)
Atoro is an Irish AI governance and cyber compliance consultancy, and the first in Europe certified against ISO 42001: certificate AIMS-AT-120224, issued by A-LIGN under its ANAB accreditation on 2 December 2024, and published in full. On a readiness list, that matters for one concrete reason: we have sat on the receiving end of a third-party audit ourselves, so we know which evidence an examiner actually samples, where a control set goes thin under testing, and what a Stage 2 week feels like from the client’s chair.
The SOC 2 service runs from scoping and control design, through internal audit, to ongoing managed compliance with TrustOps, with programmes run in Drata, our partner platform. A senior engineer in your time zone leads the work rather than an account manager. We prepare you and we never sign your report: an independent CPA firm performs the examination, which is the only arrangement a buyer’s reviewer will accept. Pricing is fixed after scoping and published at atoro.io/pricing. Across security and compliance, Atoro has delivered more than 200 certifications.
“Atoro helped us with every aspect of the process, from zero to a full SOC Type II audit and report.”
- Best for: Scaling software and AI companies with enterprise customers, that want local presence and an engineer-led SOC 2 build rather than a platform subscription and a checklist.
Arculus (UK)
SOC 2 audit consultancy that supports organisations through preparation for a SOC 2 AICPA Trust Services audit; listed on the UK Government G-Cloud Digital Marketplace since 2024 (checked 07-08-2026). Differentiator: procurable via G-Cloud.
Assent Risk Management (UK)
UK risk consultancy producing SOC 2 advisory content, including published Q&As with US CPA firm A-LIGN, a live example of the UK-readiness/US-auditor pairing (checked 07-08-2026). Differentiator: visibly collaborates across the readiness/auditor independence line.
Cypro (UK)
UK consultancy offering SOC 2 Type 1 and Type 2 readiness, audit preparation and ongoing support (checked 07-08-2026). Differentiator: SOC 2 positioned as a dedicated UK service line.
Hicomply (UK)
ISMS platform plus services; SOC 2 readiness with “dress rehearsal” gap assessments and a SOC 2 versus ISO 27001 comparison hub (checked 07-08-2026). Differentiator: software-plus-services hybrid.
IT Governance (UK & Ireland)
Compliance publisher and consultancy with SOC audit and reporting pages on both UK and Irish storefronts, from an advisory (non-CPA) position (checked 07-08-2026). Differentiator: explicit Ireland storefront, rare in this market.
LRQA (UK-headquartered assurance group)
SOC 2 readiness and compliance services to prepare organisations for the examination; readiness-only, not a US CPA firm (checked 07-08-2026). Differentiator: multi-framework assurance group for enterprises consolidating audits.
Readiness pricing is less published than audit pricing; directory estimates put a full readiness build at roughly $20,000–$75,000+ (directory estimate as of 07-08-2026, directional only). Sequence the work correctly: readiness first, auditor selection during the build rather than after it, and a SOC 2 compliance checklist to keep evidence honest. See how we run SOC 2 readiness.
Frequently asked questions
1. Do UK companies need SOC 2?
Not legally. SOC 2 is a voluntary AICPA attestation, not a UK statutory requirement. You need it when your buyers, typically US enterprises, make it a condition of procurement. If your market is primarily UK/EU, ISO 27001 is usually the first framework requested; sell into North America and SOC 2 will appear in security questionnaires.
2. Is SOC 2 recognised in the UK?
Yes, UK buyers and investors understand and accept AICPA SOC 2 reports, but it holds no special regulatory status here. Some UK firms pair SOC 2 with an ISAE 3402 report from their UK auditor when assurance is needed through chartered-accountancy channels.
3. Can a UK auditor perform our SOC 2 audit?
A UK chartered accountant cannot sign a SOC 2 report, only a licensed CPA firm enrolled in AICPA peer review can. “UK-based” SOC 2 delivery is typically the UK office of a US or global network (e.g. CRI UK, Forvis Mazars), and even Big Four opinions are signed by the US member firm. Ask any prospective auditor which legal entity signs the report.
4. Will a US enterprise buyer accept a report from a smaller, platform-partnered CPA firm?
Validity rests on the signing firm being a licensed, peer-reviewed CPA firm following AICPA standards, not brand size. Reviewers check the firm’s licence, scope, Trust Services Categories and exceptions, not the logo. Big Four reports add optics with the most conservative procurement teams, at a large premium. Verify any firm at peerreview.aicpa.org.
5. We have SOC 2 Type II. Does that mean we’re GDPR compliant?
No, entirely separate regimes. SOC 2 is a voluntary attestation about controls against the AICPA Trust Services Criteria; UK GDPR is a statutory obligation enforced by the ICO. A vendor’s SOC 2 Type II report is useful due-diligence evidence, but establishes GDPR compliance neither for you nor for them. If the system processes personal data of people in the UK or EEA, you need your own GDPR analysis, and possibly an outsourced DPO, regardless of any SOC 2 report.
6. What is the difference between SOC 2 Type 1 and Type 2?
Type 1 reports on the design of your controls at a single point in time; Type 2 reports on their operating effectiveness over an observation period, typically 3–12 months, plus roughly 4–6 weeks of reporting. Most US enterprise buyers ultimately expect Type 2; Type 1 is a common first milestone to unblock a deal.
7. Should our readiness consultancy also be our auditor?
No, and a firm offering both is a red flag. Independence rules mean the organisation that designed and built your controls cannot objectively examine them. Keep the roles separate: a local readiness consultancy prepares you, an independent CPA firm examines you.
8. How much does SOC 2 cost for a UK or Irish company?
Directional bands as of 07-08-2026, from directory estimates rather than quotes: readiness builds roughly $20,000–$75,000+; Type 2 examinations roughly £12,000–£30,000 at specialist CPA firms, £25,000–£50,000 at mid-tier, and £50,000–£120,000+ at the Big Four. Irish-market audit listings have shown €20,000–€80,000. Quotes vary with scope, categories in scope and observation period. Atoro’s own readiness pricing is fixed after scoping and published at atoro.io/pricing; see SOC 2 certification cost for the full breakdown.