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PEPs or MEPs? A Practical Advisor Framework for 2026

"Retirement plan advisors are no longer evaluating PEPs (pooled employer plans) as a new concept. They are working in a market where adoption is rising, assets continue to grow and employers have shifted the conversation from whether pooled plans work to which structure is right for their business."  MORE >>

Most Financial Advisors Don't Understand Fiduciary Best Practices

"Among the questions respondents were asked was whether they acknowledged fiduciary responsibility in writing. Of the advisors who say they acknowledge a fiduciary status for all clients, 35% got a 'C' or less for their overall fiduciary index grade. Of the advisors who say they acknowledge fiduciary status for some clients, 68% got a 'C' or less. And of the advisors (brokers) who say they do not acknowledge fiduciary status, 90% got a 'C' or less. 'There's a disconnect between principles and practices,' says [one of the survey's authors,] noting the survey reveals that a number of advisors believe they're acting in principle to a fiduciary standard but in reality don't understand the practices."  MORE >>

Financial Advisors Have New Reasons to Review Fiduciary Practices and Liability Insurance

Excerpt: The [LaRue v. DeWolff Supreme Court] case adds to the litigation concerns that threaten to chill growth of advisor-sold 401(k) plans to small- and mid-sized businesses, an increasingly productive area for many financial advisors. At Fidelity alone, total record-kept assets in such plans stood at $21.2 billion at the end of 2007, an increase of 26% from the previous year. Several factors are helping to drive the growth in advisor-sold 401(k) plans, including the Pension Protection Act of 2006, which provided guidelines necessary to encourage plan sponsors to retain qualified fiduciary advisors and to define safe harbor procedures to insulate them from the liability associated with the advice.

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Proposed Set of Best Practices Aims to Codify Fiduciary Duty of Advisors

"Taken together, the best practices are a response to what the [Institute for the Fiduciary Standard] describes as pervasive investor confusion about the business models of advisors and broker-dealers, including how they're compensated and what services they offer, a picture that's further muddied by convoluted explanations of fees and expenses. Once the best practices are finalized, the institute will begin work on a verification system where a third party would evaluate an advisor's practice and determine whether to confer the fiduciary designation."  MORE >>

Cybersecurity 2.0: Practical Guidance for Advisors and Plan Sponsors, Part 2

"Even with a five-point focus, it will take time for plan sponsors to go through all the necessary steps to be sure they've managed cybersecurity-related fiduciary risk appropriately. Advisors and service providers who can help plan sponsors manage this undertaking will be in a great position to win new business and retain their current clients."

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Massachusetts Launches Investigation Into Wells Fargo Advisors Sales Practices

"Wells Fargo itself disclosed in a recent regulatory filing that it is 'assessing whether there have been inappropriate referrals or recommendations, including with respect to rollovers for 401(k) plan participants, certain alternative investments, or referrals of brokerage customers to the company's investment and fiduciary services business' ... [The Massachusetts Secretary of the Commonwealth] is seeking additional information to determine the scope of Wells Fargo's internal investigation as well as reasonable assurances that any Massachusetts investors affected by unsuitable recommendations will be made whole."

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Advisor Practices of the Future 2012-2015

"According to [a recent] report, the market share of professional retirement plan advisors in the $10 million to $500 million market, a targeted segment, will grow to 40% from 25%, and the number of plan advisors will increase by nearly 50% during the next three years. To support this growth, firms will need to focus on recruiting and developing talent, as the pool of qualified candidates may not be large enough to meet demand."

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Advisors Providing Services to Arrangements Governed by ERISA Should Review Fiduciary Practices and Double-Check Professional Liability Insurance

Some areas advisors working with 401(k) plans might review include: Service agreements, vendor relationships and fees, documentation, and education and training.

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Calculation of Self-Employed Participant's Earned Income Needs TPA/CPA Coordination

"[E]arned income calculations [can] needlessly delay the completion of year-end plan testing and employer tax returns. In most cases, the root cause is the same -- the 401(k) TPA and CPA have not coordinated the back-and-forth process necessary for each to complete their respective work timely.... The key is understanding starting point information a 401(k) TPA needs to calculate earned income while plan testing."

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Penalties Hit ERISA Plans in Spite of CPA Audits

"While the number of filing deficiencies are frequent among smaller plans (i.e., plans with fewer than 100 participants), which aren't required to have an annual CPA's independent financial audit, the DOL is concerned about the increasing number of deficiencies it sees for plans that receive a CPA's annual financial audit.... [D]eficiencies ... include: [1] Incorrect payroll calculations; [2] Failure to properly synchronize changes in participants' deferral rates with the recordkeeper; and [3] Recordkeepers' vesting errors on distributions."  MORE >>

Advisor Best Practices: Providing Fiduciary Education to Plan Sponsors (PDF)

"Most plan sponsors would benefit from foundational education covering topics such as [1] The fiduciary standards under ERISA and how that translates into specific responsibilities related to overseeing a retirement plan; [2] Bonding requirements; [3] Plan fees and fee disclosure rules; [4] Current service provider relationships and any delegation of fiduciary duties ... [5] Terms of the investment policy statement ... [6] Terms of the plan document; [7] Critical compliance deadlines."  MORE >>

ERISA Litigation and Enforcement: The Role of the Independent Fiduciary and Best Practices for Financial Advisors

"The outsourced fiduciary market is growing in the United States and elsewhere. When an outside party is hired by a plan sponsor, it is critical to specify responsibilities and contract accordingly. When an 'expectations gap' exists, some critical tasks may be left wanting or not addressed at all. When multiple fiduciaries are in place, a plan sponsor must ensure that a central person or team is adequately coordinating the efforts of all fiduciaries. The newly proposed Conflict of Interest rule is predicted to materially change the landscape of fiduciary relationships between plan participants and retirement advisers."

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American Academy of Actuaries Comment Letter to California Actuarial Advisors Panel on Model Actuarial Funding Policies and Practices (MAFPP) for Public Pension Plans (PDF)

"The subcommittee recommends that the MAFPP specifically be limited to ... ongoing public pension plans (i.e., plans whose members earn future accruals and that are open to new hires).... [T]he MAFPP would categorize the current Pension Protection Act (PPA) funding method (traditional unit credit) as 'unacceptable'. This seems politically sensitive and potentially highly charged."  MORE >>

CPA Dismay Over Form 5500 Changes May Be Misplaced

"[C]ertain provisions of SECURE 2.0 will likely increase plan participation levels over the next few years and result in more plans that are of the size that must file as 'large plans' and accompany their Form 5500 with an audit report. Below, we explain the change to the audit requirement, and briefly cover the SECURE 2.0 provisions that may be coming to the rescue."

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Being Prepared Can Make Independent CPA ERISA Audit Less Onerous (PDF)

"ERISA requires that certain ... [plan sponsors] must engage an Independent Qualified Public Accountant on behalf of the plan's participants to audit the plan financials prepared by the plan sponsor. This is generally referred to as an ERISA audit.... This column will briefly outline what you can expect when the auditor arrives, and some of the issues noted in the [AICPA] Audit Risk Alert."  MORE >>

Retirement Plan Audits from the CPA Perspective

[Two CPSs describe] two types of audits, the full scope and the limited scope.  MORE >>

CPA Firm Required to Pay Restitution and Ensure Audit Training in ESOP Case

"The U.S. Department of Labor has obtained a consent judgment and order requiring the firm of Ahlstrom & Baker CPAs in Los Alamitos, California to pay $5,000 in restitution to the employee stock ownership plan (ESOP) of Rehab Consultants of Florida Inc. (RCI), and ensure that all personnel conducting plan audits possess appropriate knowledge and continuing education training."  MORE >>

What Advisors Think About Pooled Employer Plans, Alternative Investments

"[O]nly about one-third of DC plan advisors are familiar with PEPs ... About 17% of occasional advisors are familiar with PEPs ... These occasional advisors don't focus on defined contribution, they don't focus on workplace, and they only generate up to 20% or so of their practice income from their defined contribution advising."  MORE >>

Best Practices to Reduce Excessive Fee Risk

"[T]he most common allegations raised against 401(k) plan fiduciaries [include]: [1] Failure to leverage plan profile to reduce fees. [2] Selecting excessive expense fund share classes. [3] Using plan assets to pay excessive recordkeeper compensation. [4] Offering money market funds rather than higher-yield stable value funds. [5] Failing to monitor fund performance and removing imprudent funds at least annually. [6] Failing to engage in a formal request for proposal with plan vendors at least triennially."

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Implementing Section 404: A Practical Approach to Compliance With the Sarbanes-Oxley Act

Excerpt: The Sarbanes-Oxley Act requires that all public companies do something that they probably should have been doing anyway: assign the CEO and the CFO authority over the company's internal controls and the opportunity to demonstrate competent and transparent governance, not just to the SEC but to shareholders and the financial community in general. While some public companies may previously have managed with less-than-stellar internal controls, those days are over.

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