Employee Benefit Plan Audits

Balancing employee needs and compliance requirements

BerryDunn’s employee benefit plan consultants bring deep experience to employee benefit plans, and work collaboratively with client stakeholders to add value, meet regulatory requirements, and encourage employee engagement. We specialize in optimizing plan design for pre-tax contributions and tax-deferred growth, and provide options for executive compensation and profit-sharing plans.

Our team of seasoned professionals will work closely with you to help you determine your plan’s needs and to ensure you obtain the level of assurance needed in today’s regulatory environment. We will guide you through available alternatives and design a plan structure that meets and balances goals, while ensuring compliance with the vast array of evolving tax rules that govern plans.

Employee benefit plan services

From initial planning to final deliverables and beyond, our team works to identify and meet timelines while maintaining focus on client objectives.

Employee benefit plan audits

Collaborating with stakeholders to navigate audit challenges

Audit readiness assessments

Improving efficiency of your operational functions

Form 5500 preparation

Maintaining compliance with ERISA requirements

Retirement plan consulting and design

Structuring plans to meet and balance client goals and encourage employee engagement

Employee fiduciary reviews

Advancing stakeholder knowledge and improving governance

ACA compliance

Leveraging experience to support compliance

Our team can help you navigate the complex requirements of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) through an audit tailored to suit your needs. Thoughtful communication, collaboration, and a focus on client objectives are the defining features of our audit service approach, enabling us to plan for new developments, address regulatory changes, and integrate key feedback.

Risk assessment

We help you understand and address any risks posed by your employee benefit plan, including ERISA and other business risks.

Employee benefit compliance

We help ensure that you are obtaining the level of assurance needed in an audit to comply with regulatory requirements.

Audit readiness assessments

Our employee benefit plan audit readiness team will work closely with your key stakeholders to help ensure your records are clear, regulations are scrupulously followed, and operations are compliant. Our involvement helps your organization maintain a state of perpetual readiness for audit so you emerge from the process with minimal impact.

Internal controls

We begin each engagement by reviewing and documenting your organization’s current controls to level-set and identify areas for improvement.

Pre-audit testing

Our team runs multiple audit scenarios to test internal controls, and help ensure compliance.

Financial reporting

We work to understand your financial reporting processes to identify weaknesses and implement improvements.

Form 5500 preparation

Our experienced team can assist in the preparation of your welfare benefit and retirement plan Form 5500. Our credentialed staff receives specialized training to ensure up-to-the-minute knowledge of all applicable regulations. In addition, we provide audit services to approximately 225 employee benefit plans and prepare more than 100 Forms 5500 every year.

5500 tax filing

We can help you with all aspects of your plan’s Form 5500, from preparation to filing, helping you avoid late filing penalties.

5500 compliance

Our knowledgeable team will help ensure that your Form 5500 is accurate and compliant with all relevant regulations.

Retirement plan consulting and design

Our employee benefit plan experts partner with you to create a plan design that meets your specific needs, including optimizing for pre-tax contributions and tax-deferred growth. We can also provide expertise and options for executive compensation and profit-sharing plans.

Retirement plan design

Working from first-hand experience and industry best practices, we guide you through available alternatives to identify a plan structure that works best for your organization.

Retirement plan consulting

Our team works with yours to develop and implement new accounting pronouncements, and to encourage organizational adoption of recommended changes.

Retirement plan optimization

We will work tirelessly to ensure your plan is optimized to provide you with the best available strategy for both tax benefits and employee benefits.

Employee fiduciary reviews

Our employee benefits advisors work closely with plan fiduciaries to help you protect your organization, your employees, and your plan’s integrity. We help you avoid any penalties by working with your team to ensure you are aware of, addressing, and preventing any potential plan errors.

Deferrals and contributions

We help ensure that deferrals made to your plan are timely and accurate, reducing risk and safeguarding your employees’ financial well-being.

Vendor cost management

With our extensive employee benefit plan advisory experience, we can advise you on the best plan vendors to meet your service and budget requirements.

ACA compliance

Affordable Care Act (ACA) compliance starts with early planning—and ongoing vigilance. The BerryDunn team works closely with your organization to understand the ACA’s nuances, and to develop and document a clear program that avoids the risk of IRS employer compliance penalties.

What to expect at BerryDunn

From initial planning to final deliverables and beyond, our team works to identify and meet timelines while maintaining focus on client objectives. Assigned staff maintains open and ongoing communication with clients throughout the course of the engagement to plan for new developments, to address regulatory changes, and to integrate key feedback. We utilize an audit service approach tailored to suit each client’s needs, and design solutions for uncompromising quality, accuracy, and economy.

About us