2025 Employee Benefit Plans: Audit and Accounting Guide

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Your key to EBP audit success

Whether you're a new or seasoned EBP auditor, this guide is your ideal roadmap to a quality audit, helping you at each stage of the audit with:

• Authoritative guidance
• Practical tips
• Example auditing procedures
• Information regarding statutory rules and regulations
• Illustrations of plan financial statements and auditors' reports

This guide applies to the financial statements and audits of employee benefit plans that are subject to the financial reporting requirements of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA), including:

• Defined contribution retirement plans
• Defined benefit pension plans
• Health and welfare benefit plans

The Department of Labor’s Employee Benefits Security Administration strongly encourages the use of this guide in meeting the requirements contained in ERISA Section 103 that a plan have an audit conducted in accordance with GAAS.

Recent developments

Recent changes include enhancive revisions and additions as well as other guidance related to the following:

• Inherent risk factors for EBPs
• Potential pervasive risks for EBPs
• Risk assessment analytical procedures for EBPs
• Understanding of an EBP’s use of IT
• EBP-specific information for the components of the system of internal control
• Examples of EBP controls
• Methods for obtaining an understanding of business processes
• Walk-throughs for a defined contribution plan
• EBP-specific audit areas that may benefit from testing the operating effectiveness of controls
• SAS No. 146, Quality Management for an Engagement Conducted in Accordance With Generally Accepted Auditing Standards
• FASB ASU No. 2023-08, Intangibles—Goodwill and Other—Crypto Assets (Subtopic 350-60): Accounting for and Disclosure of Crypto Assets
• FASB ASU No. 2023-09, Income Taxes (Topic 740): Improvements to Income Tax Disclosures
• SECURE Act 2.0

Key Topics

• SAS No. 136, as amended and codified in AU-C section 703
• Single employer, multiple employer, and multiemployer employee benefit plans subject to ERISA (ERISA plans)
• Performance requirements for an audit of ERISA plan financial statements
• Select recent developments in standards affecting EBP auditing and accounting
• FASB Accounting Standards Codification (ASC) requirements
• Generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP)
• Generally accepted auditing standards (GAAS)

Who Will Benefit

• Practitioners in firms of all sizes
• Entities sponsoring employee benefit plans required to file audited financial statements
• Individuals preparing, auditing, or assisting in the preparation of plan financial statements, benefit pension plans, defined contribution retirement plans, and health and welfare benefit plans