Assurance · Fixed published fees
Independent Technology Audit: a written verdict backed by evidence
When a board, investor, insurer or major customer asks a question your own reporting cannot answer, the audit answers it: senior reviewers with no stake in the result examine the evidence and deliver a written verdict in plain words, in one to four weeks. Fixed published fees from £4,500 + VAT, with most audits between £8,500 and £18,000. Anything Intelance runs for a client is audited by a separate team.
The audit at a glance
Definition
What is an independent technology audit?
An independent technology audit is an examination of a company’s technology, carried out by reviewers with no stake in the result, that produces a written verdict backed by evidence. It exists because certain questions cannot be answered from inside: a board asking whether the technology can carry the strategy, an investor or lender asking before money moves, an insurer questioning cover, a major customer auditing its suppliers, or leadership that has stopped trusting its own reporting.
Depending on the question, the audit examines all systems and spend, security controls, a specific programme, data, AI use, or a company being bought. Intelance runs independent technology audits at fixed published fees from £4,500 + VAT, with most audits between £8,500 and £18,000, delivered in one to four weeks by senior reviewers. The independence rule is strict: anything Intelance runs for a client is audited by a separate team with no stake in the answer.
It is not a financial statement audit, which is your accountant’s work. It is the same discipline applied to technology. The wider practice is described under assurance, with programme reviews on the delivery assurance hub and deal work under M&A due diligence.
No stake in the result
Reviewers separate from anything we run for you.
Evidence over assertion
Claims tested against records, systems and contracts.
Fixed published fees
From £4,500 + VAT, agreed before work starts.
A verdict in plain words
Written for the person who asked.
The scopes
Six things an independent audit can examine, each at a published price
The question decides the scope. Audits combine, and the combined fee is fixed before work starts, like everything else here.
The whole technology picture
Risk, cost and delivery across everything you run, in one view a board can act on. The answer to “where do we stand?”
Scoped asTechnology Board Assurance Pack, from £18,000 + VAT, 3 to 4 weeks.Security
How well protected you really are, tested against evidence, for boards, insurers and customers who want proof rather than promises.
Scoped asCyber Maturity Assessment, from £12,500 + VAT, 2 to 3 weeks.A programme in trouble
Whether a big programme will land: plan, spend, delivery health and the honest gap between reports and reality.
Scoped asDelivery reviews, from £8,500 + VAT.AI use
What AI the company runs, whether anyone governs it, and how exposed it is under the rules now in force.
Scoped asAI Governance Review, from £15,000 + VAT.Data
Whether the numbers the board sees can be trusted: ownership, quality and control of the data that decisions rest on.
Scoped asData Governance Review, from £8,500 + VAT.A deal
The technology of a company being bought or sold, or the health of an integration you now own.
Scoped asM&A Technology Assurance Review, from £15,000 + VAT, 5 to 10 days.How it works
From question to verdict in one to four weeks
The method is the same whatever the scope: pin the question down, gather the evidence, test the claims, deliver the verdict.
The question
Who asked, what they meant and what evidence would convince them. Audits fail when this step is skipped, so it never is. Scope and fixed fee agreed in writing.
The evidence
Documents, system records, contracts, reports and interviews, collected without disrupting the people doing the work. We examine what exists rather than what we are told exists.
The testing
What the company believes about itself, checked against what the evidence shows, with findings put to your team before they are written down. No surprises in the final report.
The verdict
A written answer to the question asked, in plain words, with the evidence behind every finding and the fixes ranked by what matters. Presented to the person who asked, if you want us in the room.
What you do with it
The verdict and the evidence are yours: for the board pack, the investor, the insurer or the negotiation. Fixes are separate work, with us or with anyone. The audit never assumes you buy anything else.
Larger estates and combined scopes take longer, and we say how much at scoping. Deal timetables compress: the M&A review runs in 5 to 10 days because the deal will not wait.
Published fees
Where most independent audits start
Four named scopes cover most questions. Each is priced before you choose it, and each stands alone.
Technology Board Assurance Pack
Risk, cost and delivery across everything you run, in one view a board can act on.Best whenThe question is where the whole estate stands. FeeFrom £18,000 + VAT3 to 4 weeks 02
Cyber Maturity Assessment
How well protected you really are, tested against evidence for boards, insurers and customers.Best whenThe question is security. FeeFrom £12,500 + VAT2 to 3 weeks 03
Delivery Review
Whether the big programme will land, and the gap between reports and reality.Best whenThe question is a programme. FeeFrom £8,500 + VAT 04M&A Technology Assurance Review
The technology of a company being bought or sold, or the health of an integration you now own.Best whenThe question is a deal. FeeFrom £15,000 + VAT5 to 10 days
The alternatives
How the audit compares with the alternatives
Three ways to answer the question. The difference is whether the answer convinces the person who asked.
Honest people asked to mark their own homework, whatever they find
The answer nobody outside the company believes, however true it is
The person who asked wanted independence, and this is not it
Free, and unconvincing
A team of juniors for months, priced by the week, scoped to grow
A report that arrives after the decision it was meant to inform
The fee resets the question: by the end, nobody remembers what was asked
Months, priced by the week
Senior reviewers examine the evidence and answer the question asked, at a fixed published fee
A written verdict with the evidence behind it, in plain words, in weeks
Scoped to the question, priced in public, and finished while the decision still matters
1 to 4 weeks, fixed published fees from £4,500 + VAT
Scope
Exactly what the fee covers
You get
A written verdict answering the question asked, in plain words.
The evidence behind every finding, gathered from records rather than assertions.
Findings put to your team before they are written down, so nothing lands as an ambush.
Fixes ranked by what matters, priced as separate work you can take anywhere.
A fixed published fee agreed before work starts, and presentation to whoever asked if you want us in the room.
This is not
A financial statement audit. That is your accountant’s work. This is the same discipline applied to technology.
Self-assurance. If we built it or run it, a separate team with no stake in the answer audits it.
An open-ended engagement. Scoped to the question, fixed in fee, finished while the decision still matters.
A sales exercise. The audit never assumes you buy anything else, and the fixes can go to anyone.
Where to start
The calls we usually get
Four questions we are usually asked to answer. If yours is different, the scoping call pins it down.
Why Intelance
The rules this work runs under
No stake in the answer
If we built it or run it, we do not audit it. A separate team examines it, and the rule is absolute.
Fixed published fees
From £4,500 + VAT, published on this page and fixed in writing before work starts. Combined scopes get one fixed fee.
Evidence behind every finding
Claims are tested against records, systems and contracts, which is why the verdict survives the room it is read in.
Senior reviewers only
The person who examines your evidence signs the verdict. Nothing is handed to a junior bench.
Nothing to sell afterwards
Fixes are separate work you can take to anyone. No platform, no licences, no commission.
Who carries out the work
Every audit is led by a senior reviewer, supported by senior consultants and established delivery partners.
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Tell us who asked and what they asked
Thirty minutes with the person who would sign the verdict: who is asking, what they need to see and when they need it. The scope and the fixed fee come back in writing, and the answer arrives while the decision still matters.
FAQs
Questions about the independent audit
What is an independent technology audit?
An examination of a company’s technology by reviewers with no stake in the result, producing a written verdict backed by evidence. Depending on the question it covers all systems and spend, security, a specific programme, data, AI use, or a company being bought, and it exists for the questions that cannot credibly be answered from inside.
How much does an independent technology audit cost?
Fixed published fees from £4,500 + VAT with Intelance, with most audits between £8,500 and £18,000 depending on scope. Every fee is agreed in writing before work starts, and combined scopes get one fixed fee. For context, comparable big-firm engagements are typically priced by the week and run for months.
How long does an independent technology audit take?
One to four weeks depending on scope: security assessments typically two to three weeks, the full board pack three to four, and M&A reviews five to ten days because the deal will not wait. Larger estates and combined scopes take longer, and we say how much at scoping.
Who commissions an independent technology audit?
Boards that want to know whether the technology can carry the strategy, investors and lenders before money moves, insurers questioning cover, major customers auditing their suppliers, and leadership teams that have stopped trusting their own reporting. The verdict is written for whoever asked, in their language.
How is a technology audit different from a financial audit?
A financial statement audit examines the accounts and is your accountant’s work. An independent technology audit applies the same discipline, evidence, testing and a signed verdict, to systems, security, programmes, data and AI. Many boards commission both for the same reason: an answer from inside convinces nobody outside.
What is the difference between an independent IT audit and an internal review?
Independence. An internal review asks honest people to mark their own homework, and whatever it finds, the person who asked for independence has not received it. An independent IT audit is carried out by reviewers with no stake in the result, which is what makes the verdict usable with boards, investors, insurers and customers.
Can Intelance audit something Intelance built or runs?
No, and that rule is absolute. Anything Intelance runs for a client, a managed service, a programme, an operating model, is audited by a separate team with no stake in the answer. Where full independence is better served by another firm entirely, we say so.
What happens after the verdict?
The verdict and the evidence are yours: for the board pack, the investor, the insurer or the negotiation. We present to whoever asked if you want us in the room. Fixes are ranked, priced as separate work, and can be done by us, your team or anyone else. The audit never assumes you buy anything else.