BRIDGING THE DIVERSITY GAP – A NEW MINORITY-OWNED CPA FIRM – AUDIT PEAK

Computers & Technology

  • Author Audit Peak
  • Published August 18, 2021
  • Word count 983

NEW YORK, NY, UNITED STATES, August 17, 2021 /EINPresswire.com/ -- Audit Peak, an innovative and unique Certified Public Accountant (CPA) firm, reaches far beyond providing exemplary services to its clientele. This new minority-owned CPA firm moves a step closer to bridging the diversity gap with similar progressive organizations. The firm’s vision is to expand employment and career opportunities for everyone, providing opportunities for individuals with the aptitude and drive, especially minorities in the auditing and cybersecurity space. Audit Peak offers a comprehensive suite of services, including System and Organization Controls (SOC) 1, SOC 2, SOC 3, Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), Agreed-Upon Procedures, and Gramm–Leach–Bliley Act (GLBA) compliance services. Studies reveal that less than 1% of minority-owned CPA firms in the United States provide advisory and assurance services. Audit Peak endeavors to improve this statistic by inspiring more people, especially minority-identifying people, to create and explore auditing and cybersecurity opportunities while the firm redefines the quality standards of the sector.

How will the firm make a difference? This question came up during the company’s planning phase. The answer was to form a minority-owned CPA firm to provide representation, inspiration, and empowerment to professionals and business owners alike. The Audit Peak team has at least 25 years of combined audit and cybersecurity experience. The firm brings together CPAs and consultants who were previously employed by Big 4 and boutique CPA firms and who collectively have completed hundreds of audits for start-ups, mid-caps, and large-cap companies. Inspiration to make a difference was driven by observing the buzzwords “diversity” and “inclusion” being tossed around for many years and witnessing first-hand the lack of representation and opportunity. Beyond expanding employment and career opportunities, Audit Peak intends to provide internships and mentorship to upcoming professionals and work with businesses and organizations that support advancing minorities in auditing and cybersecurity.

Where does change begin? According to NABA, the National Association of Black Accountants, only an estimated 5,000 of the 650,000 CPAs in the U.S. are black. Audit Peak believes that established social mores and practices at some companies make it challenging for these firms to create a genuine sense of diversity, inclusion, and opportunity for minorities. Instead of just adding icing to a cake, the firm believes that the only way to tackle this lack of diversity and opportunity is to “bake fresh cakes and pay attention to the ingredients.” As part of its ingredients (“mission”), Audit Peak intends to maintain a healthy work culture where every employee truly has a voice, feels genuinely appreciated, and is celebrated and inspired to achieve their goals. To this end, Audit Peak intends to employ a recruitment strategy that includes recruiting from mixed and historically black colleges; educational establishments which have been historically excluded from targeted recruitment by prominent firms.

Why should firms choose Audit Peak? In addition to providing CPAs and consultants with Big 4 experience, Audit Peak has a much fairer pricing structure, a culture of quality without compromise, and an ethos of “pride in one’s work.” The team has led audits for companies across many industries and countries, ranging from start-ups with less than ten (10) employees to more established companies with over fifty-thousand (50,000) employees. The team has also led audits for companies with market capitalizations ranging from several hundred thousand to several billion dollars. Audit Peak’s consultants have audited many legacy environments and even more cloud environments, including Amazon AWS, Microsoft Azure, and Google GCP. Amongst the suite of services, Audit Peak will push its SOC 2 services as its primary line of business. The team has completed over 200 SOC 2 audits. With technology-driven collaboration and growth in outsourcing, the demand for SOC 2 reporting is likely to grow as companies seek to manage their risk posture, including cybersecurity risks. The Audit Peak team also has experience with HITRUST, PCI DSS, and ISO 27001 and plans to offer these and other compliance services in a phased format.

According to a recent Bloomberg report, “The Consulting Business Booms Just as Consultants Disappear,” nearly 2-in-3 consulting firms say they are short-staffed. At the same time, the risk and threat landscape has evolved significantly as many companies migrate from on-premises to cloud infrastructure. This shift has created additional security, operational, and compliance challenges for many companies and increased the demand for consultants. Audit Peak aims to create more opportunities for employment and help supply the shortage in the talent pipeline, adding to a team already imbued with excellence. Audit Peak is committed to driving actual change and creating a standard of excellence to support and propel its clients’ compliance strategies.

About Audit Peak

Audit Peak is a minority-owned firm of CPAs & consultants providing cybersecurity, consulting & risk advisory services. We are a distinctive brand that focuses on representing and inspiring people while bridging the diversity gap. Our team has a healthy mix of specialists from the Big 4 accounting firms and boutique CPA firms. Additionally, we have expertise and experience working with companies of all sizes across many industries and a comprehensive yet apt hiring strategy that allows us to handpick and mentor new and junior team members. We also have standardized protocols focused on continuously improving and enhancing the quality of our services and deliverables.

Three (3) primary goals shape our authentic integrity. These goals are to provide representation, inspiration, and quality assurance.

  • Our firm will provide equal employment opportunities for CPAs and consultants and employ an inclusive recruitment strategy to create opportunities for minorities.

  • We will strive to inspire more people to seek more opportunities in auditing and cybersecurity.

  • We will strive consistently to enhance the quality of our service standards.

  • We will set an example for our peers to create a more diverse work culture.

Our core values include Integrity, Quality, Care, Transparency, Diversity, and Courage.

For more information, visit www.auditpeak.com

https://www.linkedin.com/company/auditpeak/

Media Contact

Chevorne Lewis, MF, MBA

Audit Peak

+1 212-740-7325

chevorne.lewis@auditpeak.com

Audit Peak is a minority-owned firm of CPAs & consultants providing cybersecurity, consulting & risk advisory services. We are a distinctive brand that focuses on representing and inspiring people while bridging the diversity gap.

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