Aprio

Who is Aprio?

Aprio is a top-25 U.S. public accounting and advisory firm headquartered in Atlanta, GA, founded in 1952, with a team of 2,000+ professionals.

Within the firm, SOC 2 attestation sits inside Aprio’s Information Assurance & Risk Management practice — one specialty group within a much larger tax, accounting, and advisory business — led by partners including Brett Williams (Risk Advisory and Assurance Services Leader) and Jason Lipschultz (Midwest Technology Industry Leader), alongside a team of CISA- and CCSFP-credentialed managing directors.

Aprio structures its professional services as an alternative practice structure: Aprio, LLP is the licensed, independent CPA firm that performs attest work (including SOC reports), while Aprio Advisory Group, LLC and its subsidiaries handle tax and business consulting and are explicitly not licensed CPA firms. For a buyer, this means the SOC 2 report itself is issued by Aprio, LLP, the CPA entity, not the advisory arm — a distinction the firm states plainly in its own site disclosures.

What credentials does Aprio actually hold?

Aprio, LLP is a licensed CPA firm and AICPA member that issues SOC reports itself, not a readiness shop routing work to a third-party CPA. The latest AICPA peer review in the public file is a PASS dated 13 December 2024 (period 1 May 2023–30 April 2024).

Beyond the peer review, Aprio’s information assurance practice holds an unusually broad accreditation stack for a mid-tier firm: ANAB-accredited ISO management-systems certification body status, PCI Qualified Security Assessor (QSA) status, HITRUST Authorized External Assessor status, and — as of June 2025 — authorization as both a CMMC Third-Party Assessor Organization (C3PAO) and a FedRAMP Third-Party Assessment Organization (3PAO). The firm’s own site states its SOC team includes the past chairperson of the AICPA Information Management Technology Assurance Committee, credited with helping write the original SOC 2 audit training curriculum. Aprio also cites 10,000+ SOC reports completed by its team and a 95%+ client renewal rate on its information assurance pages — figures the firm publishes itself, not independently verified here.

What SOC reports does Aprio issue?

Aprio performs the full SOC family — SOC 1, SOC 2 (Type I and Type II), SOC 3, SOC for Cybersecurity, and SOC for Supply Chain — plus Agreed-Upon Procedures (AUP) engagements for tailored audit scopes. The firm’s site describes a standard sequence of SOC readiness assessment, controls implementation support, the audit itself, and ongoing compliance support between annual cycles.

Per Aprio’s own published FAQ, a SOC 2 Type I typically runs 1-3 months of preparation plus 2-5 weeks of audit execution, while a Type II carries a 3-12 month observation period on top of execution — with a first-time Type II often taking 6-9 months end to end before annual cycles settle into a steady 12-month rhythm.

Does Aprio assess HITRUST?

Aprio’s stated positioning is a “test once, use many” (or “comply once, use many”) approach across SOC, ISO, PCI, and HITRUST — running one evidence-collection exercise mapped to multiple frameworks rather than separate engagements per certification.

This matters for buyers who need SOC 2 today and can foresee HITRUST, ISO 27001, or PCI DSS on the roadmap: Aprio holds accreditation to deliver all of them under one relationship, including HITRUST at the e1, i1, and r2 levels and ISO certification (27001, 27701, 22301, 9001, 42001) through its ANAB-accredited certification body function.

Does Aprio cover federal frameworks?

Aprio’s federal compliance line covers CMMC (as an authorized C3PAO, able to perform Level 2 certification assessments directly since June 2025), FedRAMP (as a newly authorized 3PAO, able to lead FedRAMP assessments rather than only readiness work), and GovRAMP for state and local government contracts.

This is a meaningful capability for government-contractor clients that also need SOC 2 for commercial customers, since it keeps both engagements inside one firm.

Does Aprio also sell penetration testing?

Aprio offers penetration testing and offensive security as a separate service line — web application and API testing, cloud and network testing, mobile app testing, PCI segmentation testing, FedRAMP Red Team assessments, and secure code review, delivered by a team it describes as DoD 8140/8570-certified.

Because Aprio offers both SOC 2 attestation and penetration testing, the standard AICPA independence consideration applies: if Aprio’s attest team is also evaluating a pen test the firm itself performed for the same client, that creates a self-review threat under AICPA independence rules, since the test becomes part of the control environment the audit then assesses. Buyers using Aprio for SOC 2 should scope the pen test as a distinct engagement and raise the separation question directly, rather than assuming the two should be bundled under one review.

Which GRC platforms does Aprio work with?

Aprio is listed as a partner auditor on Sprinto’s compliance-auditor directory, and maintains a dedicated integration page describing Secureframe’s questionnaire-automation workflow used alongside Aprio engagements.

The firm also offers standalone GRC tool selection, configuration, and optimization as a service — helping clients choose and configure a compliance platform rather than requiring one specific tool, and it runs its own vendor-facing Trust Center product for clients who want to automate incoming vendor security questionnaires.

How much does an Aprio SOC 2 audit cost?

Aprio does not publish a rate card. Directory estimates are $15,000–$42,000 Type I and $22,000–$75,000 Type II for a mid-tier multi-office firm, not a boutique or Big Four quote.

Request a quote for a number scoped to your environment.

How long does an Aprio SOC 2 audit take?

Aprio’s own published FAQ puts SOC 2 Type I at 1-3 months of preparation plus 2-5 weeks of execution, and a Type II at 3-12 months of observation (commonly 6-9 months for a first-time Type II) plus execution.

Our supplied estimate of 4-10 weeks reflects fieldwork-to-report time on top of whatever observation window a Type II requires — a Type II is never a fast engagement regardless of firm, because the observation period is a fixed clock, not a queue position.

Which frameworks does Aprio cover?

Aprio’s information assurance practice covers an unusually wide span of frameworks — SOC, ISO, HITRUST, PCI DSS, CMMC, FedRAMP, GovRAMP, and WebTrust — which leaves fewer common gaps than most SOC 2-focused firms. What isn’t clearly documented on the firm’s public pages: state-specific StateRAMP authorization beyond its GovRAMP assessment work, and framework coverage for jurisdictions outside U.S.

federal and state programs (e.g., non-U.S. government schemes). Buyers with a niche or non-U.S. regulatory requirement should confirm scope directly rather than assume coverage from the breadth above.

Who is Aprio a good fit for?

Best fit for: - SaaS, technology, healthcare, and manufacturing companies that want a single top-25 accounting firm behind their SOC 2 report rather than a boutique specialist - Organizations that anticipate needing SOC 2 plus HITRUST, ISO 27001, PCI DSS, CMMC, or FedRAMP down the road and want one firm’s accreditation stack to cover all of it - Government contractors

that need CMMC or FedRAMP alongside commercial-facing SOC 2 work - Teams already on Sprinto or Secureframe who want an auditor with a listed platform integration - Buyers who value a large firm’s bench depth and long track record (10,000+ SOC reports per the firm’s own figures) over boutique-firm speed or price

Not a fit — look elsewhere if:

• You want the lowest possible price for a single, simple first-time SOC 2 — Aprio’s mid-tier, multi-service-line cost structure runs higher than boutique specialist shops
• You need penetration testing and SOC 2 delivered as one bundled, unseparated engagement — scope them as distinct engagements given the independence consideration above
• You want a firm whose entire practice is SOC 2 — Aprio’s information assurance group is one specialty inside a much larger tax and advisory firm, which some buyers prefer and others don’t

When should a buyer shortlist Aprio?

Aprio’s SOC 2 practice is a specialty group inside a top-25 U.S. accounting firm, issuing reports through the licensed CPA entity Aprio, LLP, with an AICPA peer review PASS (December 2024, covering May 2023-April 2024) and an unusually broad accreditation stack spanning HITRUST, ISO, PCI DSS, CMMC, and FedRAMP alongside SOC.

That breadth is the practice’s core selling point: one firm can carry a client from a first SOC 2 through additional frameworks without a new vendor relationship. It also offers pen testing as a separate line, which buyers should keep scoped apart from the audit itself. For a buyer who wants a large firm’s depth and multi-framework runway, Aprio is a strong fit; for the cheapest or fastest single-framework SOC 2, a boutique specialist will likely undercut it on both price and turnaround.