With your benefit plan’s audit just around the corner, you should expect many questions to arise which pertain to specific details of your plan. If you familiarize yourself with your plan’s annual reports in advance, including any plan documentation prepared by third parties, you will greatly assist your auditor and reduce the overall time of your audit.
Often times, auditors will request specific plan documentation up front, so prepare and reconcile schedules from third parties, such as trust statements to your internal records, ahead of time. You should also have the following documents “at the ready” to help reduce the time of your audit:
- All plan records, which should be signed and up to date at the start of the audit. Records should include the plan document, adoption agreement, plan amendments, if any, and IRS opinion letter, indicating that the plan is compliant with IRS requirements.
- Your written investment policy, demonstrating that internal control policies over plan holdings are well established and maintained.
- Fidelity bond ensuring coverage for the plan year.
- SOC 1 reports from service organizations, including payroll providers, to determine if controls of those entities are sufficient to ensure complete and accurate financial reporting.
You might also consider granting the audit team access to any third party service organizations used by the plan, in order to ease the audit process.
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