You opened a letter from Microsoft or its appointed auditor. Our Microsoft audit defense service sits between you and that process, run the numbers your way first, and hold the line on the Effective License Position so you pay for what you use and nothing more.
Knowing which one you are in decides how you respond. A SAM engagement is voluntary and sales led. It is presented as a free optimization, but its purpose is to find gaps and create a sale. You can decline the initial review, and declining it to run your own internal assessment first is a recognized defensive move.
A self verification is a contractual demand under your agreement. You cannot decline it, but you can still control how the count is produced and presented.
A formal audit runs through a third party accounting firm under the MBSA audit clause. The auditor produces an Effective License Position, the reconciliation of what you deployed against what you own.
The audit clause is specific. If unlicensed use reaches 5 percent or more of total use, you reimburse Microsoft for the verification costs and you acquire the missing licenses at 125 percent of the current price. That 5 percent line is the difference between a quiet true up and a penalty, and keeping your verified position on the right side of it is the heart of the defense.
| Outcome | Under 5 percent | 5 percent or more |
|---|---|---|
| License purchase | At standard price | At 125 percent of price |
| Verification costs | Microsoft absorbs | You reimburse |
| Leverage | You keep it | You lose it |
Figures are indicative and depend on your agreement and the facts.
A clean report from your own SAM tool feels like proof. It is not. Microsoft uses its own counting methodology and its own data from Azure, Microsoft 365, and management tooling. A tidy internal position can still differ from Microsoft's calculation, and Microsoft's calculation governs. In 2026 Microsoft also applies anomaly detection across licensing and telemetry to choose targets, so usage spikes, entitlement mismatches, and Azure Arc telemetry that exposes unlicensed servers all raise your risk. We rebuild the position the way the auditor will, find the gap before they do, and decide what to concede and what to contest.
Our guarantee: we reduce your exposure or we reimburse our service fee.
A formal audit runs through a third party accounting firm under the MBSA audit clause. The auditor produces an Effective License Position. If unlicensed use is 5 percent or more, you reimburse verification costs and acquire licenses at 125 percent of price. That clause is why the methodology fight matters.
No. SAM tool output is not audit defense because Microsoft uses its own counting methodology and its own data from Azure, Microsoft 365, and management tooling. Your defense is an independently rebuilt Effective License Position.
Your own internal assessment before Microsoft counts, a line by line challenge of the auditor methodology and the Effective License Position, and negotiation through to settlement. Fixed Fee from $18,000 or Gainshare with zero retainer, and we reduce your exposure or we reimburse our service fee.
Fixed Fee or Gainshare, both backed by our guarantee. We never take vendor money.
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