When organizations talk about audit quality, they often focus on the outcome: Was the audit rigorous? Was it credible? Will customers trust the report? While these are critical, one question is often overlooked: What was it like to get there?
Information security audits have developed a reputation for being difficult to navigate. Teams expect lengthy evidence requests, unclear expectations, last-minute questions, and a process that can feel more like a test of endurance than a test of controls. Over time, many organizations have come to accept that experience as a sign of rigor and I believe that is a mistake.
Audit quality and audit friction aren’t the same thing. A rigorous audit should challenge assumptions, test controls thoroughly, and provide independent assurance. It shouldn’t create unnecessary uncertainty about what is being evaluated, why evidence is needed, or how findings are determined.
In my role as Chief Customer Officer, I spend a lot of time with founders, security leaders, and operators who are working to build trust with their own customers. They understand that audits need to be independent and credible, and what they also often want – and should expect – is clarity. They want to understand what is being tested, why it’s important, what good looks like, and how to engage the right people throughout the process.
Those shouldn’t be competing priorities, yet many companies still spend audit season trying to determine whether an issue relates to control design, operation, evidence, ownership, or documentation. That uncertainty creates extra work for the customer and often makes the auditor's job harder as well.
The strongest audits create confidence in both the outcome and the process. They maintain independence while helping organizations better understand their control environment, risk posture, and opportunities for improvement.
Learn more: Is Your Compliance Platform Making You Audit-Ready … or Just Busy?
Recognizing the difference between rigor and friction
The industry sometimes mistakes ambiguity and friction in the audit process for rigor. A difficult process can seem more serious because it creates more back-and-forth, more interpretation, and more pressure on the customer. Where rigor really shows up, however, is in the quality of testing, the discipline of the methodology, the consistency of judgment, and the ability to identify gaps that matter.
Independence can also be misunderstood. An auditor should - in fact must - bring objectivity, professional skepticism, and clear boundaries to the work. That discipline can exist alongside practical communication and a customer experience that helps the company understand what is happening.
A good auditor should be able to reduce uncertainty for the customer, and the standard should be clear enough for the company to understand what is being evaluated – and why. Clear upfront expectations help the company provide better evidence, engage the right owners, and understand whether a finding points to a control issue or a documentation gap.
Clarity is also a key component of audit quality, because customers can provide better evidence when they understand the purpose of a request. Teams make better remediation decisions when expectations are clear, and leaders develop a stronger view of their control environment when the process helps them see where ownership, operation, or evidence needs improvement.
Audit’s role in improving security posture
The best audits leave organizations’ infosec processes more mature than they were at the beginning. They help teams understand which controls are working, where evidence is weak, where ownership is unclear, and where risk is being managed informally instead of consistently. While certification certainly matters, the maturity a company carries forward from it makes the audit even more valuable.
This has become more important as compliance becomes a more critical factor in how companies grow. Customers are asking harder questions before they buy, boards and investors want greater confidence in how risk is managed, and regulators continue to raise expectations around governance and accountability. As a result, audits are no longer just compliance milestones – they have become a critical mechanism for demonstrating trust.
AI, vendor ecosystems, privacy requirements, and security expectations are changing quickly, so trust has to be demonstrated through the way a company operates every day. Founders and operators need an audit process that helps answer practical questions and helps them achieve broader growth goals. Do we know who owns our controls? Are we collecting evidence in a way that reflects how the business actually works? Can we explain our risk posture clearly to customers, auditors, and leadership? These are operating questions as much as compliance questions, and a strong audit experience brings them into focus, giving the company a clearer view of what needs attention. It also recognizes the reality that most companies are building mature programs while still running the business.
At Thoropass, we believe trust is built through both standards and experience. Customers need audits that are rigorous enough to be credible and practical enough to help them improve. They need independence, clear communication, and a process that gives them more confidence in how their business operates.
Audit quality is often visible in process clarity. Strong auditors test controls with discipline and help companies understand their operating model with precision. That is what customers should expect from the audit experience: rigor that makes the company stronger.
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