We aUDIT more than 900 employee benefit plans

Experience & Dedication 

Plante & Moran has a team of CPAs that specializes in employee benefit audits. The largest plan we audit has more than $22 billion in investments and the largest master trust has $50 billion in investments.

Whether your plan is big or small, you can benefit from our experience and dedication to client service. Client surveys conducted over the last three years indicate that we have met or signifcantly exceeded their expectations.

We have many “benefit plan only” clients. Don’t let concerns about duplication of effort and start-up costs stop you from hiring us to conduct your employee benefit plan audits. As part of our investment in a long-term relationship with you, we won't bill you for the additional time incurred in the first-year audit. As for duplication — the fact that investment testing and payroll testing are done by two different auditors won't add costs. In both cases, the work done for the entity's audit is performed at a much higher level, so it doesn't reduce the work performed at the plan level. Plante & Moran has expertise and experience in the unique tests you need at the plan level.

We’ll address the issues important to you

Plante & Moran employee benefit audits cover issues emphasized by the Department of Labor, such as:

• The plan assets covered by the audit are fairly valued.
• Plan obligations are properly stated and described.
• Contributions to the plan were made in a timely fashion.
• Benefit payments were made in accordance with plan terms.
• Issues were identified that may impact the plan’s tax status.
• Transactions prohibited under ERISA were properly identified.

You can benefit from our credentials and relationships

To better serve our benefit plan audit clients, we have joined AICPA's Employee Benefit Plan Audit Quality Center (EBPAQC). That means we subject ourselves to additional scrutiny so that we can maintain the highest level of quality.

For timely resolution to issues, we can draw on long-term, professional relationships with the Department of Labor (DOL), Internal Revenue Service (IRS), and the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC).

Because we’re one of the nation’s largest tax, accounting, and management consulting firms, we also have relationships with most of the large investment, insurance, and record keeping companies, banks, and actuarial firms. This allows us to efficiently secure necessary audit information.

Our focus on benefit plan audits translates to deep expertise

Unlike many firms that use benefit plan audits for filler work, we're committed to them. We allocate substantial resources to ensure our staff is trained in audit procedures and disclosure requirements unique to the benefit plan industry. We provide extensive training for new staff and continuing education for experienced staff.

Because of this emphasis and our firm culture that leads to high staff retention, you can expect to see continuity of staff assigned to your audit. The audit team also can rely on the consulting services of the firm. Our benefit plan consultants include tax consultants, attorneys, and actuarially trained experts who can review and model plan design alternatives, develop and install qualified and nonqualified retirement plans, and evaluate third-party administrators. Unlike other benefit consulting companies, our creative, multidisciplinary approach incorporates tax, accounting, and legal compliance perspectives.

Timely reports help clients avoid penalties

Our audit clients have many success stories to share. Because of our experience we can work smart for you.