ERISA Covered Employee Benefit Plans Audit Quality

The U.S. Department of Labor’s Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA) has completed an assessment of the quality of audit work performed by CPAs with respect to financial statement audits of employee benefit plans covered under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA).

The results of their study were alarming.

Nearly 40% of plan audits failed to comply with generally accepted auditing standards (GAAS), putting $653 billion dollars and 22.5 million plan participants and beneficiaries at an elevated risk of loss. In addition, the AICPA has determined that 21 % of practitioners in our study were not in compliance with required peer review requirements.

One notable finding was that firms that performed the fewest benefit plan audits had a 76% deficiency rate in complying with GAAS.

This report confirms what our Employee Benefit Plan Audit team believes to be true – a quality auditor is one who has extensive and specialized experience in the unique and highly technical aspects of Employee Benefit Plan audits.

The Jones & Roth Employee Benefit Plan Audit team performs more benefit plan audits than any other firm headquartered in the state of Oregon. Therefore, we hold a vigorous commitment to excellence, and our expertise covers common 401(k) plans, as well as unusual, highly technical plans such as defined benefit, 403(b), employee stock ownership (ESOP), profit-sharing, self-directed, health and welfare, and alternative investments.