Maintaining SOC 2 Compliance Year-Round
SOC 2 compliance doesn’t stop once the audit is complete. Reports are typically valid for 12 months, but staying compliant requires regular reviews, continuous documentation, and ongoing monitoring. Learn how often audits are required and what it takes to keep controls reliable year-round.
A SOC 2 audit captures how your company’s controls were designed and followed during a set period. Once the report is issued, the work isn’t finished. Customers, investors, and partners expect those same practices to remain consistent throughout the year. The real challenge of SOC 2 is not passing the audit—it’s maintaining compliance day after day.
How Often Are SOC 2 Audits Required?
The audit cycle depends on the type of report:
- SOC 2 Type I — a one-time snapshot of controls at a given date. Useful for early-stage companies proving they have policies in place.
- SOC 2 Type II — a review of how controls actually work in practice, across six to twelve months. This is the format most customers require.
For most organizations, an external SOC 2 audit takes place once a year. That yearly rhythm keeps reports current and is what procurement teams expect when reviewing vendors.
Some companies add extra checkpoints during the year:
- Quarterly internal reviews to confirm that onboarding, access control, and security logs stay consistent.
- Semi-annual readiness checks before major client renewals or fundraising rounds.
How Long Is a SOC 2 Report Valid?
There is no formal expiration date, but in practice, a SOC 2 report is treated as valid for twelve months after the audit period.
Example: if your audit covered January through December 2024, most customers will accept that report until December 2025. After that, they will expect a new one.
Certain events shorten this timeline. A major system migration, acquisition, or restructuring often prompts customers to request an updated report, even if the current one is less than a year old.
Audit Frequency in Context
Audit cadence varies depending on size and complexity:
- Small startups often rely on one Type II audit per year, combined with lightweight internal checks.
- Scaling companies serving enterprise clients tend to keep the annual audit but add quarterly reviews.
- Enterprises usually maintain the annual SOC 2 while running monthly or quarterly internal audits across departments.
The annual external audit is the baseline. Internal reviews are what fill the gaps and keep evidence consistent.
Staying Compliant Between Audits
SOC 2 isn’t just about passing an audit once—it’s about showing that security and governance are embedded in daily operations. Auditors look for continuous proof. That means:
- Access logs are updated and preserved.
- Onboarding and offboarding processes are followed every time.
- Policy updates are tracked and employees acknowledge them on record.
If these steps are ignored for months, it’s nearly impossible to recreate the evidence later.
Practices That Make Compliance Easier
Instead of treating compliance as a once-a-year project, build it into ongoing routines:
- Quarterly reviews → Check access rights, incident response, and vendor risks.
- Automation → Use tools that collect logs, approvals, and evidence in real time.
- Shared ownership → HR, IT, and operations all contribute data auditors will request.
- Continuous documentation → Record changes as they happen to avoid gaps.
Companies that follow these practices save time, reduce stress, and face fewer surprises during the next audit.
A SOC 2 report generally lasts twelve months, and audits are usually done annually. What determines success is how the company behaves between those audits. Regular reviews, good documentation, and automated monitoring keep controls reliable and evidence complete. With that approach, compliance becomes part of daily operations, not a last-minute scramble.
