If you’re preparing for a compliance audit—whether for ISO 27001, GDPR, or Cyber Essentials—gathering evidence to prove compliance is not just a checklist activity. It’s a way of showing your board, auditors, and stakeholders that your business takes governance, risk, and compliance seriously. But collecting that evidence retroactively is a common mistake. Instead, you should focus on building processes that make evidence collection automatic, reliable, and audit-ready from day one.

In this article, we break down a simplified, practical approach to gathering the right evidence.

How to gather evidence to prove compliance before an audit

1. What Counts as Evidence to Prove Compliance?

Compliance frameworks (like ISO 27001 or Cyber Essentials) don’t just want you to have policies in place—they want proof that you follow them. This is where evidence comes in.

Types of evidence may include:

• Screenshots of security configurations

• Training logs and attendance sheets

• Access logs or audit trails

• Records of incident response and recovery

• Meeting minutes documenting compliance reviews

• Versions of signed security policies

• Vendor risk assessments

• Change management logs for critical systems

Each piece helps create a verifiable record of your compliance activities. More importantly, it builds a story of your organisation’s intentional culture of responsibility around technology and risk.

Read: ICO – How to Demonstrate GDPR Accountability

Read: NIST’s Risk Management Framework details what auditors deem “objective evidence”.

2. Make Policy the Foundation, Not an Afterthought

If your business doesn’t yet have documented policies on information security, access management, or data protection, that’s where you start.

Key policies to establish:

• Acceptable Use Policy

• Remote Working Policy

• Password Management Policy

• Incident Response Plan

• Data Classification & Retention

But having policies isn’t enough—they must be actively reviewed (typically every 12–24 months), version-controlled, and signed off by senior management.

Read our post on – How to Build a Security First Culture

3. Use Scheduled Tasks & Reminders to Create a Paper Trail

A big part of proving compliance is showing that tasks were done on time and by the right person.

To do this:

• Assign recurring compliance tasks (e.g., firewall review, data backup tests)

• Use calendar tools like Microsoft Outlook or Asana to set due dates

• Capture evidence of completion (e.g., screenshots, system logs, or a signed checklist)

• Make sure tasks are assigned to a specific person—not a group—and track completion

This approach builds a culture of accountability and creates automated logs that auditors love.

4. Run Regular Log Reviews – Don’t Just Store Them

Modern systems generate logs continuously, but are you actually reviewing them?

Logs worth reviewing regularly:

• User login activity (especially admin access)

• Failed login attempts

• Changes to group permissions

• Software patching and update logs

Set a monthly or quarterly cadence for someone on your team to review these logs and flag anomalies. Tools like Microsoft Sentinel or even native Windows Event Viewer can help.

5. Don’t Ignore Incidents—Use Them as Audit Fuel

No business is breach-proof. But how you handle incidents shows maturity.

If you’ve had a phishing attack, failed patch, or even a near miss, document what happened, what was done about it, and what was learned. This shows auditors that your organisation is not just reactive—but learns and evolves.

This documentation could include:

• Timeline of events

• Screenshots of alerts or EDR logs

• Actions taken (e.g., account lockout, password reset)

• Lessons learned + changes implemented

Read our post on – The Benefits of a Microsoft 365 Security Audit: Why do you need one?

6. Change Management Logs Are Compliance Gold

When you roll out a new system (CRM, backup solution, website rebuild), log:

• What changed

• Who approved it

• Where the data lives now

• Risk assessments performed

• Controls that were updated

This simple list will prove invaluable during GDPR audits or if your board asks how a vendor change impacted your compliance posture.

Read our post on – Change Management for SMEs

7. Use Compliance Tools That Capture Evidence for You

If you’re still trying to manually track compliance using Excel, it’s time for an upgrade.

Recommended tools:

• Tugboat Logic – Helps SMEs map controls to ISO 27001 and gather evidence.

• Vanta – Tracks SOC 2 and GDPR progress with integrations to M365 and Slack.

• Netsurion – Combines SIEM + 24/7 SOC-as-a-service to collect real-time security logs.

A good tool will automatically collect data (like patch status or MFA adoption) and store it securely for audit retrieval.

8. Make the Evidence Work for You During the Audit

Once you’ve gathered the right evidence to prove compliance, the audit process becomes much smoother.

Pro tips:

• Organise your documentation by control or requirement (e.g., GDPR Articles, ISO 27001 Annex A).

• Create an “evidence index” mapping each requirement to a file or system screenshot.

• Use cloud folders with version control (e.g., SharePoint) to make sharing easier.

This approach will cut auditor time on-site, reduce the back-and-forth questions, and demonstrate operational excellence to senior leadership.

9. Common Pitfalls to Avoid During Evidence Collection

Pitfall – Waiting until the audit to gather evidence

• Solution – Make it part of daily ops with automation

Pitfall – Policies not updated or signed

• Solution – Set annual review calendar with ownership

Pitfall – No proof of staff training

• Solution – Use sign-in sheets or quiz results to verify participation

Pitfall – Only using point-in-time scans

• Solution – Supplement with tools that track change over time

Ready to Make Audit Prep Stress-Free?

Spector IT helps growing SMEs build governance systems that gather evidence to prove compliance as part of daily operations—not just during audit week. We integrate process, policy and tooling so you’re always audit-ready and always secure. Book a free 30-minute call and receive a gap assessment you can act on immediately.

Post updated on – 01/05/2025