Art of the Qualified Plan Audit

Plans that obtain a valid limited scope certification for the completeness and accuracy of investment information from a regulated financial institution such as a bank, trust company, or insurance company, can instruct their auditors to exclude investment information from the scope of their audit.

Many nonprofits who sponsor ERISA 403(b) plans are not aware that they need an audit, because counting participants involves much more than knowing how many full-time employees the organization has or how many account balances are in the plan.

WEBINAR TODAY March 31, 2014: Join Legg Mason for a webinar with Maria T. Hurd, CPA, Director of Retirement Plan Audit Services at Belfint, Lyons & Shuman. Maria will offer insights to help plan sponsors and advisors prepare for a plan audit.

Financial advisors on TV and financial publications in reputable papers and magazines consistently encourage people who participate in an employer-sponsored retirement plan to contribute as much as possible. In many cases…

Welfare plans such as health, life insurance, dental, vision, short and long term disability plans, among others are generally a combination of unfunded and fully insured.

Despite the relief retirement payroll managers and retirement plan officials may feel from this most recent sprint to the finish, THE RACE IS NOT OVER. Get that second wind and verify that deferral withholdings that employees have trusted you to put in their retirement accounts were actually deposited to the plan, without exception.

In a time when nonprofit organizations are facing higher demand for their services with fewer financial resources available to them, maintaining compliance with the ever-changing landscape of regulatory requirements is becoming increasingly difficult.

Plan sponsors who are signatories to collective bargaining agreements agree to make contributions to their employees’ unions’ benefit funds, which generally include a welfare plan, a defined benefit pension plan, and a defined contribution annuity fund, among others.

Much like people who make a wish to be fit with the turkey wishbone after a Thanksgiving feast, many plan sponsors think that their INTENT to be a safe harbor plan is a sufficient defense when they have not met the requirements to be a safe harbor plan.

CPA firms that perform employee benefit audits can voluntarily join the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants’ EBPAQC (the Center).