Audits of Employee Benefit Plans Subject to ERISA

Overview

Auditing employee benefit plans

Employee benefit plan (EBP) audit engagements continue to be scrutinized by regulators and peer reviewers due to a history of noncompliance with applicable professional standards.

Through this course, you can gain the proper skills to perform EBP engagements effectively. You will learn about:

The steps of an EBP audit

Applicable professional standards

ERISA and SEC requirements

Commonly audited plans

You will tap into ways to plan and conduct effective risk-based plan audits to comply with professional standards while maximizing efficiency for defined contribution plan audits. This course focuses specifically on this type of plan given that defined contribution plans, including 401(k) plans, are the predominant plan type subjected to audits.

Applied learning

You will do a deep dive into EBP auditing by working through the plan audit process from engagement acceptance through the archive.

Example forms and reports will be examined to illustrate effective EBP engagements.

Objectives

Recognize fundamentals of employee benefit plans subject to ERISA.
Identify plan financial statements prepared in accordance with GAAP.
Identify ways to properly plan an audit of ERISA plan financial statements in accordance with applicable professional standards.
Indicate how to audit the statements of net assets available for benefits.
Recognize considerations related to plan investments and management and auditor responsibilities.
Indicate how to audit the statement of changes in net assets available for benefits.
Identify ways to properly report on an audit of ERISA plan financial statements in accordance with applicable professional standards.

Highlights

Audit planning and pre-engagement activities

Risk assessment, including consideration of controls

Auditing the statement of net assets available for benefits

Auditing the statement of changes in net assets available for benefits

Other auditing considerations, including prohibited transactions and tax compliance

The auditor's report

Financial statement disclosures

Supplemental schedules

Designed For

Auditors of employee benefit plans

Practitioners considering adding EBP audits as a service offering

Accountants in business and industry responsible for company benefits

Prerequisites

None

Notice

You will receive an email from the AICPA with instructions to access the webinar.

Fees

Credits

Level

Code

Vendor

Fields of Study

Leader(s):

Randy Dummer, Owner/Member at HHM CPAs

Leader Bios

Randy Dummer, Owner/Member at HHM CPAs

Randy Dummer joined HHM in 2011 as a quality control partner in the Accounting and Assurance Department. He leads the firm in many initiatives including the peer review practice and employee benefit plan audit niche, in addition to providing technical reviews for clients in multiple industries such as auto dealerships, nonprofits, construction and manufacturing.

He is a nationally recognized employee benefit plan audit specialist and leads discussions for the American Institute of CPAs (AICPA) in this area. His skills as a discussion leader have deemed him an eight-time winner of the AICPA Outstanding Discussion Leader Award. His teaching pursuits include instructing the Audits of 401(k) plans webcast since 2014 and teaching various employee benefit plan audit courses since 2006. He serves as the audit partner for audits of 401(k) plans, 403(b) plans, ESOPs, Defined Benefit Pension Plans, and Health & Welfare Plans.

As the captain for approximately 50 peer reviews each year, he helps other CPA firms raise the bar of quality for accounting, auditing and attestation services. He has been on the peer review committee of the Tennessee Society of Certified Public Accountants (TSCPA) since 2013. In addition, he is an approved Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) audit subject matter expert for the AICPA enhanced oversight project.

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