Mike Buher

Director of Assurance & Advisory

Employee Benefit Plan Audit FAQs

拥有超过20年的员工福利计划审计经验,并促成了数百次合并审计, Clearview Group’s Assurance & Advisory Director, Mike Buher and Manager, Margaret Michael, 为即将进入员工福利计划审计季的员工列出一些常见问题:

Q: What are the top areas the Department of Labor (dol) focuses on in audits?

答:我们目睹了DOL继续关注拖欠工资存款和失去参与者. 雇员退休收入保障法(ERISA)要求雇员缴款不迟于15年th business day of the month following the pay date; however, that is not a safe harbor. DOL的期望是计划发起人为这些捐款建立一个政策,并且他们坚持这个政策.

Generally speaking, the DOL looks to see that Sponsors take less than 7 days to remit; however, if you are able to remit in 1-2 days, they expect that you will consistently remit in 1-2 days. If an unusual event occurs (i.e. a power outage, natural disaster, problems implementing a new payroll system) that causes a delay in remitting, the best thing to do would be to document it. If it’s truly unusual you likely don’t need to consider that late; however, routine absences due to holidays, vacation, sick days will not be considered unusual.

Regarding lost participants, DOL希望确定计划发起人有一个系统来定位“失踪的参与者”.在许多情况下,计划的记录员可以协助执行这项功能,但主办者通常不知道记录员在执行什么步骤. 因此,他们不知道什么时候需要参与进来,才能进入下一个阶段. 我们的团队建议主办方采用正式的政策并形成文件. 文档应该包括记录管理员执行的步骤,以及如果记录管理员失败将采取的步骤. 这些步骤包括雇佣商业定位服务或联系信用报告机构.

我们的团队还发现DOL有兴趣确保计划发起人监视没收. 这既包括确保监测适当的授予权,也包括没收物的使用. 计划文件规定了这两个方面,发起人应确保他们遵循计划文件.

Q: When WOULD AN AUDIT WARRANT AN ERISA ATTORNEY INVOLVEMENT?

A: Generally, ERISA counsel would not be necessary during an audit; however, whenever significant operational errors occur, 计划担保人应考虑是否有必要聘请ERISA法律顾问. 计划发起者能够自我纠正许多操作错误——例如延迟汇款, 在计算合资格的工资或供款或归属时出现轻微错误. 当发现更大的错误时,比如计算合格工资时的重大错误,或者确定有缺失的计划修正时,我们建议与ERISA律师进行沟通.

Q: fidelity bonds vs. fiduciary insurance? How do you explain this to clients?

答:ERISA要求计划有一份保真债券,覆盖每个处理计划资金或其他财产的人. 这个想法是为了保护计划免受计划受托人或其他处理计划基金的人欺诈或不诚实所造成的损失. 受托人或其他与现金有实际接触的人被认为是处理计划资金的人, checks or other property, or has the ability to transfer plan funds to themselves or third parties. 计算缴款或处理工资单的个人不会被认为上升到处理计划资产的级别,除非他们也有权削减支票并向信托机构汇款. 因为计划受托人可以对计划参与者的全部损失承担个人责任, 一般来说,他们想要的是受托保险,这种保险可以提供一些保护,使他们免受因自己的角色所造成的损失(诚实的错误),但一般不会保护他们免受欺诈或不诚实所造成的损失.

问:您发现计划发起人和记录保管人/第三方管理员(tpa)最大的缺陷是什么??

A: The three largest areas where we identify errors:

  • Mistakes in the determination of eligible wages
  • Late remittances
  • Mistakes in the computation of vesting

Regarding eligible wages, 当计划发起者没有适当地查阅计划文件中关于“额外工资”(意为奖金)的内容时,通常会出现错误, commissions, PTO pay-outs, etc.

在计算归属时,通常会出现错误,因为计划发起者不知道计划文档中对完成归属一年的定义. For example, if a year of vesting is granted for working 1,即使他们只工作了半年,也能获得一年的授权. Also, 很多时候,计划发起人并不监控由记录保管人进行的授权计算,所以他们不能及时识别记录保管人所犯的错误.

Q: how do you suggest clients button-up their processes to ensure compliance?

答:我们在“计划”中看到的挑战之一是,在主办者中谁负责各种职能方面可能会出现混淆. Often it’s a mixture between accounting and HR. 我们建议发起人记录各种计划过程,并包括每个过程的负责人.

For more information on the Employee Benefit Plan process, contact:

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