Audit support
SOC readiness bookkeeping
SOC readiness bookkeeping for Hong Kong companies keeps billing, revenue and vendor-payment records reconciled while a company prepares for a service-organisation examination requested by an overseas customer or partner. Our accounting team tracks finance-related evidence requests; an independent audit firm entitled to issue SOC reports under AICPA attestation standards performs the actual examination and issues the report.
Auditor request list
Illustrative client · August 2026
HKD
- Trial balance and general ledger exportDone
- Bank confirmations and statementsDone
- Receivables and payables listingsDone
- Fixed asset register with additionsIn progress
- Accruals and prepayments supportNext
Illustrative. An example of the document, not a client's figures.
Why a Hong Kong company would need this
Hong Kong companies selling into the US or EU increasingly get asked by an enterprise customer whether they hold a SOC 2 report before a contract goes ahead. That examination is a US AICPA framework, not a Hong Kong statutory requirement, but the financial evidence behind it, billing accuracy, revenue recognition, vendor-payment controls, still has to be current and consistent.
Keeping the financial evidence ready
We keep books reconciled month by month through the examination window rather than caught up the week before an examiner asks for records. Billing tied to signed contracts, vendor-payment approval trails and revenue-recognition consistency are the pieces of the file most often requested.
Coordinating with your compliance lead
A tracker follows the finance-related evidence items your examining firm requests. Where a request needs security or technical context beyond the accounting records, we route it to your internal security or compliance lead rather than answering outside our scope.
What stays outside this work
We do not perform the examination and we do not issue or hold the report. That comes from an independent audit firm entitled to issue SOC reports under AICPA attestation standards, working from evidence your team, including us, provides. This runs alongside internal controls documentation, since much of what an examiner asks for traces back to a control that needs to be written down first.
Alongside the Hong Kong statutory audit
A SOC readiness engagement does not replace the annual statutory audit every active Hong Kong company still needs under the Companies Ordinance. The two run on separate tracks, one for an overseas customer's due diligence, one for the Companies Registry and the Inland Revenue Department.
Delivery
Every month's work is reviewed by a senior reviewer before it reaches you, and your file stays in your own Xero, QuickBooks Online or Zoho Books account.
Questions
Frequently asked questions: SOC readiness bookkeeping
Do you get us a SOC 2 report?
No. That report is issued by an independent audit firm entitled to issue SOC reports under AICPA attestation standards. We keep the financial records and evidence behind it organised.
Is this the same as our Hong Kong statutory audit?
No. The two are separate. This supports an overseas customer's due diligence request; the statutory audit is a Companies Ordinance requirement performed by a Hong Kong-registered, practising auditor.
Do you work directly with the examining firm?
We coordinate mainly with your internal security or compliance lead, and can join a call with the examining firm when a finance-specific question needs a direct answer.
Which control areas does SOC readiness bookkeeping actually touch?
Billing, revenue recognition and vendor payment records, reconciled and documented on a consistent monthly cycle so the examining firm can trace a transaction from the source document through to the ledger entry without gaps in between.
What happens if a control gap is found while preparing for the examination?
It is flagged to you in writing as soon as it is found, with what was found and why it matters, rather than quietly patched in the books; deciding how to fix the underlying process is yours to make.
Do you perform the SOC examination or issue the report?
No. An independent, credentialed audit firm you engage separately performs the examination and issues the report. We keep the financial records and evidence behind it organized and current.
What is the difference between this and general bookkeeping?
The bookkeeping itself is the same discipline, kept to a documentation and consistency standard that holds up when an examiner asks for evidence on demand rather than at month end.
Who reviews the work before it reaches us?
Every deliverable under sOC readiness bookkeeping is reviewed by a senior reviewer before it reaches you. You keep access to the underlying file at every stage, so nothing about the work happens somewhere you cannot see it.
What is included in sOC readiness bookkeeping?
SOC readiness bookkeeping covers books and financial records kept current and reconciled through the examination window and billing, revenue-recognition and vendor-payment records organized for evidence requests. The exact scope is agreed and set out in writing before work starts, so you know precisely what is and is not covered before the first deliverable arrives.
Related services
- Audit supportInternal controls documentationFinancial process controls, such as who approves a payment or reconciles an account, written down and walked through with your team, so an auditor or funder can see how the numbers are actually produced.
- Audit supportWorking paper preparationSupporting schedules and reconciliations built the way an auditor expects to see them, cross-referenced to the trial balance, so review comments come back with fewer open questions.
Industries
Next step
Talk to the team that would run your books
A short call covers your setup, your software and what a first month would look like. You get a written scope and price after it.