The Rodman 401(k) Audit Team

Does Your 401(k) Plan Require an Audit?

Starting with the 1999 Form 5500 filing season, the Department of Labor substantially changed the filing format of Form 5500 as well as how Form 5500 will be processed.         

Definition of a large plan

A large plan is a pension (profit sharing, 401(k), 403(b), money purchase, etc.) plan that has over 100 participants at the beginning of the plan year. A participant is defined as follows:         

• Active participants – those individuals currently employed with the plan sponsor and who are covered under the plan and are recieving credited services. An active participant would include those employees who have elected to participate in the plan as well as those who are eligible to participate but have elected not to do so.
• Retired or separated participants – those individuals who are no longer employed by the employer but who are receiving benefits or are entitled to receive benefits under the plan. A common example would be a former employee who maintains an account balance in the plan.
• Deceased participants – those individuals who are deceased and have one or more beneficiaries receiving or entitled to receive benefits.

If the plan qualifies as a large plan, it must file Schedule H to form 5500 and have the plan audited by an independent qualified public accountant. If the plan has under 100 participants at the beginning of the plan year, it will file Schedule I small plan with its 5500 and forego the required audit. If the plan is a new plan, then you must determine the number of participants as of the first day participants were eligible to participate in the plan.          

Why Choose Rodman & Rodman For Your 401(k) Audit?

We’ll give you 3 good reasons:      

1. The plan sponsors’ responsibility to the participants is considerable.  Many of the mistakes or errors made administrating a 401(k) plan are inadvertent.  ERISA provides for significant penalties in addition to requiring the sponsor to correct the mistake so that the participants are unaffected by the error. An experienced audit team can help to identify these unintended errors early. ERISA and the DOL rules provide for self-reporting mechanisms that allow sponsors to minimize or eliminate penalties altogether when these mistakes are made and corrected proactively. We can help you do this.
2. Often, the plan administrators are participants in the plan as well. Undoubtedly, you wish to be protected just like any plan participant. We see our role as one that protects all who benefit from the plan.
3. We’re very price competitive. We are not a large accounting firm with significant overhead and administration. Often we find that we not only can bring our considerable experience to the table, but we can do so at a fee structure that compares quite favorably against the larger firms who may be auditing your corporate books.

We Love Auditing 401(k) Plans

We have dedicated considerable resources and training to our 401(k) Audit Team. Because we focus our efforts in a very specific area of retirement plan auditing (we only audit defined contribution plans), we feel we have the ability to be efficient, proficient and sufficient to meet your plan’s auditing requirements.          

To discuss your needs and to receive an immediate fee quote for the audit of your 401(k) plan, please contact Robert Leonard at bob@rodmancpa.com or by phone at 617.965.5959 .