Art of the Qualified Plan Audit

Posted by Michelle J. Cross, CPA A court recently fined a plan sponsor over $35 million for breach of fiduciary trust by causing employees to pay excessive fees in their 401(k) accounts. You may be thinking to yourself, “Wow, they must have been stealing from the plan!” They weren’t. But they did do something wrong…they … Continued

Posted by Saaib Uppal Any Seinfeld fan out there would remember an episode in which a tourist asked George Costanza to watch over his bag for a minute. George agreed and then stood there as the man disappeared. Unable to wait because the man was taking a long time to return, George decided to just … Continued

Posted by Christopher Ciminera In last week’s blog I drew a parallel between Verizon’s network coverage and communications of the retirement plan provisions through a Summary Plan Description (SPD) and Summary of Material Modifications (SMM). This week I will go into further detail on how to provide these communications electronically. The analogy to Verizon’s network coverage is still applicable since … Continued

Posted by Chris Ciminera I think back to the cell phone commercial with the Verizon spokesman with his black glasses and hand to his head as a parallel for retirement plan communications. Creating a plan or changing provisions without employees knowing about it doesn’t create good “coverage” for plan sponsors. In fact, the Employee Retirement Income Security Act … Continued

Posted by Saaib Uppal and Stacey Snyder Disclaimer: All blog posts are valid as of the date published. As the common adage goes, “A chain is only as strong as its weakest link.” With discussions across the country focusing on the discrepancies in wealth, we thought now is a better time than ever to remind … Continued

Posted by Michael E. Mast, CPA The Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) section 412 requires plans to obtain an ERISA bond equal to the greater of $1,000 or 10% of the plan’s beginning of year plan assets, with a $500,000 maximum. In addition, if the plan assets include employer stock, then the maximum bond … Continued

Posted by Maria T. Hurd, CPA Since the Department of Labor’s final 408(b)(2) and 404(a)(5) fee disclosure regulations were issued, industry experts across all fields have been wanting to know what will be the extent of the auditors’ duty to obtain verification for each plan’s compliance with these new rules. On Thursday, April 12, 2012, … Continued

Posted by Saaib Uppal Don’t you love those days when you wake up before your alarm clock only to see you can go back to sleep for another hour, or when your boss decides to push a deadline back on a project, or the moment you found out that the employee benefit plan you administer requires a limited scope … Continued

Posted by Maria T. Hurd, CPA Disclaimer: All blog posts are valid as of the date published. As stated in our previous blog It Takes a Village, plan sponsors use many specialized service providers to successfully administer and account for all the financial activity in their plans. Independent third-party specialists can include payroll companies, third … Continued

Posted by Maria T. Hurd, CPA On Thursday, April 12 2012, Raymond James and Drexel University’s LeBow College of Business will be presenting a continuing education event for professionals involved with corporate retirement plans. Representatives from the U.S. Department of Labor will make a keynote presentation on the final 408(b)(2) and 404(a)(5) fee disclosure regulations and … Continued