BillingTree recently completed its examination in conformity with Statement on Standards for Attestation Engagements (SSAE) No. 16, Reporting on Controls at a Service Organization for the period from May 1 of last year through April 30 of this year.

The company said the examination was performed by an independent auditing firm.

Completion of the SSAE 16 Type II examination indicates that BillingTree processes, procedures and controls have been formally evaluated and tested by an independent accounting and auditing firm. The examination included the company’s controls related to:

— Physical security
— Computer operations, including availability, information security, application development maintenance and documentation
— Data communication
— Client setup and maintenance
— Transaction processing and transaction reporting.

The company recapped that SSAE 16 is designated by the Securities and Exchange Commission as an acceptable method for a user entity’s management to obtain assurance about service organization internal controls without conducting additional assessments.

In addition, BillingTree mentioned the requirements of Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 make SSAE 16 reports even more important to the process of reporting on effective internal controls by public companies.

BillingTree vice president of operations and finance Richard Knowles also explained a SSAE 16 examination is widely recognized, because it represents that a service organization has been through an evaluation of their control activities as they relate to an audit of the financial statements of its customers.

Knowles added that a Type II report not only includes the service organization's system description, but also includes detailed testing of the design and operating effectiveness of the service organization's controls.

“At BillingTree, we are committed to providing our customers and partners with the highest level of assurance that their critical data is being stored in a secure location that employs stringent internal business processes, IT control and security,” Knowles said.

“BillingTree's dedication to ensuring our payment solutions are compliant and secure has again been documented, reviewed and audited by an independent third party, which has shown our controlled environment to be robust, transparent and consistent,” he went on to say.