Linford & Co SOC 2 Audit Cost 2026: How the Quote Is Set

Linford & Co is a boutique CPA firm focused on SOC examinations. Like every CPA firm, it prices each engagement individually and publishes no rate card. This page covers what actually moves a SOC 2 fee, what is verifiable about the firm, and how to run a quote process that produces comparable numbers.

Pricing

Quoted per engagement

Tier

Boutique

Specialism

SOC 1, SOC 2, SOC 3

There is no Linford & Co rate card

Linford & Co publishes no SOC 2 fee schedule. Neither does Schellman, A-LIGN, Coalfire, Johanson Group, Prescient Assurance, or any other CPA firm in this market. A SOC 2 examination is an attestation engagement performed under AICPA standards, scoped and priced per client, and fixed in an engagement letter. A fee table attributed to a named firm is a number that firm never published.

What is worth understanding instead is the mechanism. The fee is a function of auditor hours, and auditor hours are a function of the scope you define and the state of the evidence you hand over. You control both before you ask for a quote.

What actually sets the fee

System boundary. The products, environments, and supporting systems inside the description of the system.
Trust Services Criteria in scope. Security, the Common Criteria, is the base; each additional criterion adds control points and testing. See the criteria breakdown.
Type 1 or Type 2. Design at a point in time, or operating effectiveness across a period. See Type 1 vs Type 2.
Observation window. A longer Type 2 period means more samples and more testing.
Readiness state. The lever you control most directly. See readiness.

What is verifiable about Linford & Co

Linford & Company is a CPA firm headquartered in Denver, Colorado, specialising in SOC 1, SOC 2, and SOC 3 attestations. It operates as a focused boutique rather than a broad multi-service firm. Its positioning is set out on the firm's own site at linfordco.com.

A Linford & Co attestation is a standard AICPA SOC 2 report, produced under the same standards as any other CPA firm's. The boutique focus means SOC work is the whole business rather than one service line among many. The trade-off, common to the boutique tier, is that federal assessment work and in-house ISO certification are outside the firm's remit; where you need those, the shortlist has to widen.

Where Linford & Co belongs on the shortlist

Linford & Co belongs on your shortlist when you are pursuing SOC 2 (or SOC 1 plus SOC 2) on its own and your enterprise buyers do not specifically demand a named mid-tier or Big 4 firm. Put fellow boutique Johanson Group on the same shortlist, and if you expect to need ISO 27001 alongside SOC 2, note that Johanson also holds an ISO certification-body accreditation, which Linford does not.

Widen the list to Schellman or, for a federal roadmap, A-LIGN and Coalfire, when you are multi-framework today with a single tight timeline, or when procurement will only accept a named larger firm.

Negotiation levers that actually exist

There is no list price to discount. Negotiate the shape of the engagement instead. Tighten the system boundary. Drop criteria nobody has asked for. Choose Type 1 or Type 2 deliberately. Schedule with enough lead time that the firm's smaller team can plan capacity, which matters more at a boutique than at a large firm. Fix the year-two renewal upfront. And bring a competing boutique quote on an identical scope, because a like-for-like comparison is the only lever a firm can actually respond to.

Frequently Asked Questions

How much does a Linford & Co SOC 2 audit cost?

There is no Linford & Co rate card, and no other CPA firm publishes one either. A SOC 2 examination is scoped and priced per engagement and fixed in an engagement letter. The fee tracks the system boundary, the Trust Services Criteria in scope, the report type, the observation window, and how ready your evidence is. Ask the firm for a quote against a written scope, and put that same scope in front of two other firms.

Is a Linford & Co attestation recognised by enterprise procurement?

A Linford & Co SOC 2 report is a standard AICPA SOC 2 examination, carried out under the same attestation standards as any other CPA firm's. Most enterprise procurement reviews accept it. The exception is procurement functions that specifically require a named mid-tier or Big 4 firm; for those, the firm's brand rather than the report's substance is the deciding factor.

What are the limits of a boutique firm like Linford & Co?

Boutique firms focus on SOC examinations and do not carry the federal accreditations (FedRAMP 3PAO, CMMC C3PAO) that a federal roadmap requires; for that, A-LIGN or Coalfire are the firms with the accreditation. For ISO 27001 alongside SOC 2, a boutique CPA firm typically pairs with a separate accredited certification body rather than certifying ISO itself, unless the firm also holds an ISO certification-body accreditation.

How do you compare Linford & Co against another firm?

Send both firms the identical written scope: system boundary, criteria in scope, report type, observation window, and report deadline. Then compare what each quote includes rather than the headline: readiness or gap assessment, the examination, the number of report review rounds, bridge letters, and the year-two renewal. A cheaper headline with readiness excluded is not actually cheaper.