diff --git a/iat-verifier/tests/test_utils.py b/iat-verifier/tests/test_utils.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..329354d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/iat-verifier/tests/test_utils.py
@@ -0,0 +1,79 @@
+#-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+# Copyright (c) 2022, Arm Limited. All rights reserved.
+#
+# SPDX-License-Identifier: BSD-3-Clause
+#
+#-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+"""This module contains utility functions for tests."""
+
+import os
+import tempfile
+from io import BytesIO
+from cbor2 import CBOREncoder
+from iatverifier.util import read_token_map
+
+def bytes_equal_to_file(data, filepath):
+    """
+    return compare a bytestring and the content of a file and return whether they are the same
+    """
+    with open(filepath, 'rb') as file:
+        file_data = file.read()
+        if len(file_data) != len(data):
+            return False
+        for bytes1, bytes2 in zip(data, file_data):
+            if bytes1 != bytes2:
+                return False
+    return True
+
+def convert_map_to_token_bytes(token_map, verifier, add_p_header):
+    """Converts a map to cbor token"""
+    with BytesIO() as bytes_io:
+        encoder = CBOREncoder(bytes_io)
+        verifier.convert_map_to_token(
+            encoder,
+            token_map,
+            add_p_header=add_p_header,
+            name_as_key=True,
+            parse_raw_value=True,
+            root=True)
+        return bytes_io.getvalue()
+
+def create_token(data_dir, source_name, verifier, add_p_header):
+    """Creats a cbor token from a yaml file."""
+    source_path = os.path.join(data_dir, source_name)
+    token_map = read_token_map(source_path)
+    return convert_map_to_token_bytes(token_map, verifier, add_p_header)
+
+def create_token_tmp_file(data_dir, source_name, verifier):
+    """Create a cbor token from a yaml file and write it to a temp file. Return the name of the temp
+    file
+    """
+    temp_file, dest_path = tempfile.mkstemp()
+    os.close(temp_file)
+
+    token = create_token(
+        data_dir=data_dir,
+        source_name=source_name,
+        verifier=verifier,
+        add_p_header=False)
+
+    with open(dest_path, 'wb') as wfh:
+        wfh.write(token)
+    return dest_path
+
+
+def read_iat(data_dir, filename, verifier):
+    """Read a cbor file and returns the parsed dictionary"""
+    filepath = os.path.join(data_dir, filename)
+    with open(filepath, 'rb') as file:
+        return verifier.parse_token(
+            token=file.read(),
+            verify=True,
+            check_p_header=False,
+            lower_case_key=False)
+
+def create_and_read_iat(data_dir, source_name, verifier):
+    """Read a yaml file, compile it into a cbor token, and read it back"""
+    token_file = create_token_tmp_file(data_dir, source_name, verifier)
+    return read_iat(data_dir, token_file, verifier)