Your company’s retirement plan has grown, and the Form 5500 now needs an audit report attached. A 401(k) audit is a plan sponsor responsibility under ERISA, with a fixed filing deadline. We plan the audit around that deadline and work with your recordkeeper and third-party administrator to keep requests manageable.
Plans with 100 or more participants with account balances at the start of the plan year generally need an independent audit attached to Form 5500. Participants who are eligible but have no balance generally do not count toward this test. A plan near the line may also be able to keep filing in its prior-year category under the 80 to 120 participant rule.
Form 5500 is due July 31 for calendar-year plans, and can be extended to October 15. Requirements depend on each plan’s facts, so we confirm them at the start.
Plan fiduciaries are responsible for the plan’s operation, even when a recordkeeper and third-party administrator do much of the day-to-day work. The audit looks at whether contributions were calculated on the right compensation, deposited on time and allocated correctly, and whether distributions and loans followed the plan document.
We check participant counts and the filing deadline, including any extension.
We request documents from you, your recordkeeper and your TPA at once.
Sample testing of payroll, contributions, distributions and loans.
Draft statements and findings discussed with the plan sponsor.
Final report ready to attach to Form 5500.
Plan audits depend on information held by several parties. We coordinate requests across you, your recordkeeper and your TPA, so your HR and payroll staff are not chasing the same data twice. We explain common problems, such as late deferral deposits or compensation definitions, in plain language.
If your plan or company also needs financial statement audits or tax planning, we can coordinate within independence rules.
Probably not. For plan years beginning in 2023 and later, the count is generally participants with account balances at the start of the plan year, not everyone who is eligible. A plan with 90 funded accounts usually files as a small plan without an audit. Requirements depend on each plan's facts, and the 80 to 120 participant rule can also matter, so we check your Form 5500 history before you decide.
It is attached to Form 5500, which is due July 31 for calendar-year plans. Filing Form 5558 extends the deadline to October 15. The audit needs data from your payroll provider, recordkeeper and TPA, so starting in the spring gives everyone time and avoids a scramble at the extended deadline.
It is an audit in which certain investment information, certified by a qualified bank or insurance company, is not audited again. It can reduce work on investments, though the auditor still tests contributions, distributions, loans and participant data. Whether it is available depends on your custodian and the certification it provides.
Late deposits of employee deferrals, using the wrong definition of compensation for contributions, missed enrollments, and loans or distributions that do not follow the plan document. Most come from handoffs between payroll, HR and the recordkeeper. We explain any finding in plain English and walk you through the correction options, while the decisions stay with the plan sponsor.
We report the finding and explain the correction options generally available, such as depositing lost earnings and, where appropriate, using the Department of Labor's voluntary correction program. The plan sponsor decides how to correct. Fixing the payroll process that caused the delay matters just as much, so it does not happen again next year.
Tell us your plan year, participant count and recordkeeper. We will confirm the requirement and quote the audit.
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