The AICPA Employee Benefit Plan Audit Quality Center just released its sixth Plan Advisory, EBPAQC-Importance-of-Hiring-Plan-Advisory, which is intended to provide plan sponsors, plan administrators, and trustees with an understanding of the importance of hiring a quality auditor to perform their employee benefit plan financial statement audit, and information to help them select a quality auditor.
The Internal Revenue Service announced October 23, 2014 the cost‑of‑living adjustments affecting dollar limitations for pension plans and other retirement-related items for tax year 2015. Many of the pension plan limitations will change for 2015 because the increase in the cost-of-living index met the statutory thresholds that trigger their adjustment. Read More
As detailed in an article by Greg Stohr, 401(k) Fees at Issue as Court Takes Edison Worker Appeal, the U.S. Supreme Court will consider giving 401(k) participants more power to sue their plans over investments that impose excessive fees, accepting an appeal tied to a wave of suits against employers. Read More
The DOL recently issued Field Assistance Bulletin 2014-01 which details procedures fiduciaries should take to find missing participants and properly distribute account balances. The Bulletin suggests that fiduciaries use certified mail, check related plan and employment records, ask the designated plan beneficiary, and search the Internet to find missing participants. Read More
The U.S. Government Accountability Office (“GAO”) publicly released on July 29, 2014 a report on managed accounts in defined contribution plans. Below is the summary of the report (GAO-14-310). Why GAO Did This Study 401(k) plan sponsors have increasingly offered participants managed accounts— services under which providers manage participants’ 401(k) savings over time by making investment and
