Services: Retirement Plan Audit Support

The annual retirement plan audit is a process that takes many months to complete. Sopris Accounting Solutions helps manage this process from start to finish. We take on the main contact role for your audit, running periodic status calls, managing requests and communications, and fielding audit questions.

We work with your various service providers and team members to gather audit requests and review the information prior to providing it to the auditors. This review ensures an effective and efficient audit and mitigates the risk of unexpected audit findings. If we identify an operational error during our review, we will recommend correction programs and advisors who can assist you with corrections and compliance.

One of the most overwhelming parts of the annual audit is pulling the HR files for selected participants. Whether your paperwork is still held in physical folders or contained in your HR software, we help organize the requests by participant and point your teams in the right direction to streamline this often daunting task.

Part of your fiduciary duty as a Plan Sponsor is to monitor and oversee accounting records for the plan, including the plan’s financial statements. These are typically prepared by your audit team as part of their audit services (unless you have an 11-K), but you are still responsible for reviewing and understanding the information presented. Our team can review the information in financial statements to ensure it agrees with your plan document and U.S. GAAP (Generally Accepted Accounting Principles).

Plans that hold public company employer stock in their investment portfolios are required to file an 11-K with the SEC. Due to higher independence requirements for SEC engagements, auditors are not permitted to prepare the annual plan financial statements for these plans. Therefore, it is up to the Plan Sponsor to complete these very specialized financials. Most accountants are not familiar with the specific supporting schedules and disclosures that are required for plan financials. That’s where we come in! We can prepare your plan financials from start to finish, ensuring you remain compliant and your auditors remain independent.

There are many required schedules that are specific to retirement plan financial statement audits. We can help prepare the following schedules (as applicable):

• Contribution remittance schedule

• Statement of Net Assets Available for Benefits

• Statement of Changes in Net Assets Available for Benefits

• Statement of Accumulated Plan Benefits

• Statement of Changes in Accumulated Plan Benefits

• Master Trust Schedules

• Fair Value Table (including Net Asset Value disclosure)

• Schedule G, Part III - Schedule of Non-Exempt Transactions

• Schedule H, line 4a - Schedule of Delinquent Participant Contributions

• Schedule H, line 4i - Schedule of Assets (Held at End of Year)

The Form 5500 is a required annual filing for all employee benefit plans, and is a joint-agency form developed by the IRS, DOL and PBGC. It is important for Plan Sponsors to review and understand the plan’s Form 5500 filing, which is typically prepared by their Third-Party Administrator (TPA). We can assist in your review of the Form 5500 and help you understand the important information disclosed within. During our review we will:

• Compare plan details like name, EIN, contact info and plan attributes to your plan document

• Ensure the financial data (assets, liabilities, investments) is reconciled to the plan financial statements

• Ensure compliance issues (such as prohibited transactions or delinquent contributions) are properly disclosed

• Ensure the compliance questions on the Schedule H and Schedule R are properly completed

Disclosure Checklists can be overwhelming! They are chalk full of U.S. GAAP (Generally Accepted Accounting Principles) and even your accounting team might go cross-eyed trying to fill them out. We can help you decipher the technical language and assist in completing the checklist with ease.

We love to train others to become experts too!  We can schedule calls/meetings with your team(s) to educate them on the audit process, discuss best practices throughout the year and ensure more successful future audits.