You will appreciate our experience when it comes to your 403(b) audit
Non-profit hospitals that have fiduciary responsibility for their 403(b) tax-deferred retirement plans, including reporting and disclosure responsibilities, are required to maintain written plan documents for all plans and audits of plans that are subject to ERISA, including 403(b) plans. Compliance with these requirements can be challenging.
You can depend on Plante Moran professionals to help you work through the process. Our employee benefit plan consultants have the right mix of skills and years of experience working with tax-deferred retirement plans.
Hospitals and Health Systems need to be gathering information to properly document these 403(b) plans and prepare for financial statement audits. These two compliance requirements for 403(b) plans, perhaps the most substantial changes in 40 years, pose new challenges and implementation can be complex.
However, you can depend on Plante Moran professionals to help you work through both. Our employee benefit plan consultants have the right mix of skills and years of experience working with tax-deferred retirement plans to design a written plan that will meet your needs. Further, our benefit plan audit specialists conducted more than 950 audits last year, so they have experience that you can count on.
Why was the documentation requirement delayed? Obtaining the necessary participant records and understanding how participants are currently using the 403(b) plan can be very time consuming and complicated because participants are accustomed to individualizing their retirement accounts within the 403(b) plan and gaining access to the funds in a myriad of ways.
The written plan should be built on the gathered information so that it honors the past and sets expectations for the future that align with the goals of the plan sponsor and with the new 403(b) requirements. Also, the newly required benefit plan audit will rely on having access to appropriate plan documentation, along with participant and financial information.
More employer responsibility
Sponsors of many 403(b) plans must transition from their role as a simple pass-through for retirement savings and take on more responsibility. Because of the complexity of many 403(b) plans there may be a tendency to break up the current 403(b) plan into multiple plans to cover different categories of participants.
It is important to remember, however, that each of these plans could require an annual 403(b) audit, so you can save money by taking the time now to develop a comprehensive plan which includes written administrative policies, procedures and, in many cases, selecting a third-party administrator and investment advisors. Also, it is important to keep in mind that 403(b) plans subject to ERISA must consider all individuals who are eligible for the plan as participants, for purposes of determining whether a 403(b) audit is required (generally if there are more than 100 participants).
One of the administrative issues could be who will pay for the audits and other administrative tasks - the plan sponsor or the plan participants.
403(b) compliance demands accurate financial information
Because of our experience working with 403(b) sponsors, you will appreciate our help gathering the information you need to develop the financial statements for your plan. And you can depend on our benefit plan audit specialists to organize the material so that the process will be more streamlined moving forward.
As the plan sponsor, you can be assured that our employee benefit plan audit specialists will cover issues emphasized by the Department of Labor (DOL). We audited more than 950 plans last year and we understand the importance of having expertise in this highly regulated area.
For timely resolutions to issues, we can draw on long-term, professional relationships with the DOL, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), and the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC).
Because we’re one of the nation’s largest accounting, tax, 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 403(b) audit information.
Employee benefit plans are a focus area for our firm - You will notice the difference when we put our experience to work for you!