IT Audit Services: An Independent Review of Your IT and Your Provider
Most owners look for IT audit services when something feels off: the bill keeps climbing while tickets stay open, or nobody can say for sure that the backups work. We look at the systems directly, with read-only access wherever possible, and write down what we find. The report is yours, and it is written so your current provider can act on it too.
The short answer
An IT audit is an independent, point-in-time review of a business's technology: who controls the accounts, what is out of support or paid for but unused, whether the backups restore, and how well the current provider keeps up. NetSys delivers written findings, the evidence behind each and a prioritized remediation plan, using read-only access wherever possible. It is not a SOC 2 report or a financial audit, and you do not have to become a NetSys client afterward.
Closest related page: Cyber security risk assessments. A security assessment tests how exposed you are to attack; an IT audit reviews your whole environment, including ownership, licensing, backups and your provider's work.
Many owners ask for one when they are unhappy with their current IT provider and want facts before deciding anything. Others face a contract renewal, a cyber insurance questionnaire or a client's security review. Some are about to lose the one person who knew how everything connects. Each of them needs the same thing: a written account of what they have and who controls it.
An IT audit is different from our other reviews. A security risk assessment asks how an attacker would get in. IT due diligence examines a company you are about to buy. An IT audit looks at your own environment end to end, including the parts that are not security at all: licensing, documentation, hardware age, vendor contracts, support history and who holds the admin passwords.
Read-only access, evidence for every finding
With your written authorization we ask for read-only administrator access, or a supervised screen-share if your provider prefers, to your Microsoft 365 or Google Workspace tenant, firewall, backup console, device management tools and ticketing system. If a provider will not share access to systems you pay for, we record that as a finding and work from what you can export. Each finding states what we saw and where, the business risk, and the likely size of the fix. Findings are grouped under the six functions of NIST CSF 2.0, a public framework anyone can check the report against.
What Our IT Audit Services Examine
Ownership and Admin Access
Who holds the keys to your business.
- Global admin and emergency accounts in Microsoft 365 or Google Workspace, and whose names are on them
- Domain registrar, DNS and firewall logins
- Vendor portals and licensing accounts: registered to your company or to the provider
- Shared logins and former employees' accounts that still work
Systems, Lifecycle and Licensing
What you have, how old it is, and what you pay for it.
- Device and software inventory compared with what you are billed for
- Unsupported systems, such as Windows 10 PCs past the October 14, 2025 end of support
- License counts against active users, including seats nobody uses
- Warranty and replacement dates for servers, firewalls and laptops
- Network diagrams and documentation: current, out of date or missing
Backup and Recovery
A backup counts once it has been restored.
- What is backed up, where and how often, including Microsoft 365 or Google Workspace data
- Whether a copy is offline or immutable, as the FBI recommends
- A test restore of a file, mailbox or server where you authorize one
- Recovery order and time for the systems the business cannot work without
Security Basics and Support Quality
The controls insurers ask about, and how tickets really get handled.
- MFA coverage, endpoint protection status and patch levels
- Email authentication records and admin role assignments
- Ticket history: volume, repeat problems and time to resolution
- Contract terms: notice period, what is included, who owns the documentation
Audit Deliverables
What stays with you after the fieldwork.
- Findings that each state what we saw and where, the business risk and the likely size of the fix
- An evidence file of screenshots, exports and configuration records behind every finding
- A remediation roadmap in priority order, with an effort estimate for each item
- Findings grouped under the six NIST CSF 2.0 functions, so anyone can check the report against a public framework
- A walkthrough of the final report, after you have fact-checked the draft
Why businesses ask NetSys for an IT audit
Fifteen minutes with a NetSys engineer, not a salesperson, and you will know where your it audit services stands and what it would take to fix it. Call 845-203-3914 or request a call to discuss the scope and next steps.
Who does the work: meet the NetSys team on our About page.
- Findings come from your consoles, logs and exports, which anyone can re-check
- Every finding comes with evidence and an effort estimate, so you can plan the work and the budget
- The report is yours, written so your provider, your staff or NetSys can act on it
- There is no obligation to move your support to us afterward
- In business since 1998, working from one office in Brooklyn
Scope, process and planning details
Scope, options and working examples
Which consulting page you need
This page covers an independent review of your IT and your provider. If you need a plan or a specialized review instead, see these pages.
| Page | Use it when |
|---|---|
| This page: IT audit | You want an independent, point-in-time review of your systems, accounts, backups and current provider. |
| IT consulting | You face a technology decision, such as a migration, an office move or a roadmap, and want a written plan before anyone builds. |
| Healthcare IT consulting | You face a practice decision that is hard to reverse: an EHR selection or migration, a new site or a technology roadmap. |
| Cybersecurity consulting | You want an assessment, a ranked roadmap and written policies as a project, without handing over daily security work. |
| AI consulting | You want to pick a useful AI task, check the data and the risk, and pilot it before spending more. |
| Virtual CIO (vCIO) | You need technology strategy for running the business: the roadmap, the budget, hardware lifecycle and vendors. |
Related pages: IT consulting · Healthcare IT consulting · Cybersecurity consulting · AI consulting · Virtual CIO (vCIO).
IT audit, risk assessment, penetration test or compliance audit
Five reviews get called an audit. Each answers a different question, so pick by the question you need answered:
| Review | The question it answers | What you get |
|---|---|---|
| IT audit | Is our IT in order, who controls it and is our provider doing the job? | Findings across ownership, licensing, lifecycle, backups, security basics and support quality |
| Cybersecurity risk assessment | How exposed are we to attack, and what should we fix first? | Ranked security findings with business impact and owners |
| Penetration test | What could an attacker actually reach? | Proven findings from an authorized test, with fixes |
| Compliance audit, such as HIPAA | Do we meet a specific rule? | Findings mapped to that rule's requirements |
| IT due diligence | What are we inheriting in a company we plan to buy? | Risks and costs for the deal, written for the buyer |
See also: Risk assessment · Penetration testing · HIPAA compliance audit · IT due diligence.
What an IT audit includes, and what it leaves out
Every item is listed in the written scope before work begins.
| Area | Included | Not included |
|---|---|---|
| Accounts and access | Admin, shared and former-employee accounts on your main platforms | Changing passwords or removing access during the audit |
| Inventory and licensing | Devices, software and subscriptions checked against invoices and active users | Negotiating with vendors or resellers |
| Backup | Backup scope and retention, plus a test restore you authorize | Rebuilding a failed backup system |
| Security | MFA, endpoint protection, patching and email authentication status | Penetration testing or a full security risk assessment, which are separate scopes |
| Provider performance | Ticket history, response patterns and contract terms | Legal advice on ending a contract |
| Frameworks | Findings grouped under the NIST CSF 2.0 functions | SOC 2 reports, certifications or financial-statement audit work |
SOC reports are issued by CPA firms. NetSys is not a CPA firm, a certifying body or an auditor of record for any framework, and this audit does not replace a formal audit or certification.
How an IT audit runs
Access sets the pace, so we arrange it first.
- Scoping call: sites, users, main systems and the question you want answered
- Written scope with the deliverables, the access needed and any testing you authorize
- Access arranged: read-only accounts or supervised screen-shares, coordinated with your provider where needed
- Fieldwork: console reviews, exports, staff interviews and a site visit if the scope includes one
- Draft findings checked with you for facts before anything is final
- Final report and walkthrough, with the remediation plan in priority order
How IT audit pricing works
An IT audit is a one-time project, quoted as a fixed scope after the scoping call. We do not publish prices. The quote moves with:
- Number of users, devices and locations
- Servers and cloud platforms in scope, such as Microsoft 365, Google Workspace or Azure
- Business applications to review
- Restore tests or vulnerability scans you add
- On-site time versus remote review
If you later move to NetSys managed IT, that is priced per user per month, and our pricing page explains what moves the rate.
IT audit by market
Where fieldwork can include a site visit, and which local filings the evidence feeds:
Market pages: IT Audit in New York City.
Guides and checklists
Related guides and tools
- IT due diligence before an acquisition
- Switching IT providers without a gap
- How managed IT pricing works
- Security risk assessment scope and deliverables
- Why IT asset management matters
- Windows 10 end of support: what to do now
- vCIO for ongoing technology planning
- HIPAA compliance audits for healthcare
- IT audit checklist
IT Audit Services FAQs
What is an IT audit?
An IT audit is a structured, evidence-based review of a business's technology: who controls the accounts, what is installed and licensed, whether it is supported, whether backups restore, and how well security controls and support work, judged against a stated framework. The output is written findings and a plan, not a pass or fail. Ours is an independent operational review for small and mid-sized firms.
What is the difference between an internal and an external IT audit?
An internal IT audit is run by a company's own staff or internal audit function and reports to management or the board. An external IT audit is performed by an independent outside firm. A business without its own audit staff can commission an independent review like ours instead, and its evidence can feed a later compliance review or a financial-statement audit.
Can an IT audit help with compliance?
Yes, as preparation. The evidence an IT audit collects, such as admin accounts, MFA coverage, backups and restore tests and patch levels, is what HIPAA, the FTC Safeguards Rule and client security questionnaires ask about, and our findings are grouped under NIST CSF 2.0. A formal compliance audit or certification still comes from a regulator, a CPA firm or a certification body. Practices that need HIPAA specifically should start with our HIPAA compliance audit.
What is included in an IT audit?
An IT audit covers who controls your accounts, what hardware and software you have, whether it is supported and correctly licensed, whether backups restore, the state of basic security controls, and how well support is working. You receive findings with the evidence behind each and a prioritized remediation plan you can hand to any provider.
How much does an IT audit cost for a small business?
We quote each IT audit as a fixed scope after a short call, and we do not publish prices. Cost follows the size of the environment: users, devices, locations, cloud platforms and applications, plus any restore tests or scans you add. A single office on Microsoft 365 is a smaller job than several sites with servers.
How long does an IT audit take?
It depends mostly on access: how quickly administrator credentials or exports arrive from your current provider, and how many sites need a visit. The schedule is written into the scope before work starts, and the draft findings come to you for a fact check before the final report is issued and walked through with you.
What is the difference between IT audit services and IT assessment services?
In practice the terms mean the same thing: a structured review that ends in written findings. What matters is the scope. Ours covers operations, licensing, backups and support quality as well as security, and it is an operational review, not a formal audit by a CPA firm or a certification body.
Will our current IT provider know about the audit?
Usually, yes, because the best evidence sits in admin consoles they manage. We ask for read-only access or a supervised screen-share and keep the tone factual. If a provider refuses access to systems you pay for, that refusal goes in the report, because it shows who really controls your business.
More frequently asked questions
Do we have to switch to NetSys afterward?
No. The report is yours and is written so your current provider or your own staff can work through it. You can use it to reset expectations with the provider you have or to plan a move. If you do switch, the findings become the handover checklist.
Is an IT audit the same as a SOC 2 or a financial audit?
No. SOC 2 reports are attestations issued by CPA firms, and financial-statement auditors test IT controls for their own opinion. NetSys is neither a CPA firm nor a certification body. Our IT audit is an operational review that helps you run and secure the business, and it can help you prepare for those audits.
Who should perform an IT audit?
Someone independent of the people running the IT. A provider auditing its own work has an obvious conflict, and an internal IT person may not see gaps they created. An outside firm with read-only access, no stake in the current setup and a written method gives findings the business can act on. If that firm also sells managed IT, as NetSys does, the report should stand on its own evidence so your current provider can act on it just as well.
What does an IT audit report look like?
An executive summary of the findings that matter most, then each finding with what was checked, the evidence (a screenshot, export or log), why it matters to the business and the recommended fix, ranked by risk and effort. An inventory section lists accounts, admin holders, devices, licenses and their support dates. The report closes with a remediation plan your current provider, your internal team or NetSys could carry out.
How often should a small business have an IT audit?
There is no fixed rule outside regulated industries. Common moments are before renewing an IT contract, after a provider change, before a cyber insurance renewal, when the person who knew the systems leaves, and before buying or selling a business. Some firms repeat it every year or two to check their provider against the last report. A follow-up review against the previous findings is usually a smaller job than a full first audit.
Get a straight answer about the IT you pay for.
Tell us your user count, locations, main systems and what prompted the question. We will send a written scope with the access we need, the deliverables and the price before any work begins.