SSAE 16 differs from SAS 70 in a number of areas; the most fundamentally important aspect being that SSAE 16 is an “attestation” standard, while SAS 70 is an “auditing” standard. The Auditing Standards Board (ASB) of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA) felt that examining a service organization’s “system” and their controls is not considered an audit of financial statements, thus it should not be categorized as that.