The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA) report, Audit Quality Study, November 2023 (Report), detailed deficiencies in the quality of audit work performed by independent CPAs with respect to financial statement audits of ERISA employee benefit plans for the 2020 filing year.
The audit areas with more frequent deficiencies were in areas unique to EBP auditing, including testing contributions, benefit payments, participant data, and party-in-interest/prohibited transactions.
The EBPAQC has a number of existing tools that address many of the deficiencies identified in the Report, including:
Audit planning
Consideration of timeliness of remittances
Compliance with the plan document
Parties in interest and prohibited transactions
Review of plan documents, operations, contracts, and agreements
Fraud
Reliance on SOC 1 reports
Compliance with laws and regulations
ERISA Section 103(a)(3)(C) audits
Using the work of a management or auditor specialist
Other identified deficiencies
This tool provides a complete listing of these tools and resources as well as a brief description of and link to each.