Employee Benefit Plan & 401(k) Audits
Audits of defined contribution and defined benefit plans performed under AICPA standards and Department of Labor requirements, supporting the Form 5500 filing and the plan administrator’s fiduciary obligations.
Standards we apply
Plans that require an audit
What the plan audit covers
A process built on dates, not hope
Confirm the audit requirement
Participant counts, the 80-120 rule and prior filings determine whether an audit is required at all. We confirm that before scoping.
Plan document review & planning
We read the plan document and amendments against how the plan is actually being operated.
Fieldwork
Testing built around your recordkeeper’s data and your payroll records, on a calendar set to the Form 5500 deadline.
Report to the deadline
Financial statements and supplemental schedules delivered in time for the filing, including extensions where applicable.
We plan backward from your deadline
Filing dates, plan-year deadlines and board meetings do not move. Neither does our schedule. Every engagement starts with a written timeline built backward from your date, and we hold the milestones we commit to.
If we prepare it, we cannot audit it
Independence rules do not allow a firm to audit financial statements it prepared. If JV CPA performs your accounting or financial statement preparation, your audit must be performed by a different firm — and we will say so at the first conversation, not the fourth.
Choosing which role we take early is faster and far less expensive than unwinding it later.
Questions we get asked
When does our plan need an audit?
Generally when the plan has 100 or more eligible participants with account balances at the beginning of the plan year, subject to the 80-120 participant rule that can let a plan continue filing as a small plan. Counting the right population is where most sponsors go wrong — we will confirm it with you before you commission an audit you may not need.
What is an ERISA Section 103(a)(3)(C) audit?
Where a qualified institution certifies the completeness and accuracy of certain investment information, the audit may exclude that certified information from testing. It is a permitted audit scope, not a lesser-quality audit, and it requires a proper certification — we verify the certification qualifies before relying on it.
We missed the Form 5500 deadline. What now?
Late filings have correction programs available, including the DOL’s Delinquent Filer Voluntary Compliance Program. Bring it to us early — the options are meaningfully better before a DOL notice arrives than after.
Can you audit the plan if you do the company’s bookkeeping?
Independence applies at the plan level and the sponsor level. If we perform accounting services for the sponsor, we will assess whether independence with respect to the plan is impaired and tell you plainly. Where it is, another firm must perform the plan audit.
Form 5500 deadline on the calendar?
Tell us your plan year end, participant count and whether you are filing an extension. We will confirm what the plan actually requires.
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