Peter Gulia Posted January 5, 2016 Share Posted January 5, 2016 An ESOP retirement plan has fewer than 100 participants at both the beginning and the end of the plan year. All of the plan's assets are "qualifying plan assets" within the meaning of the 104-46 rule. The employer securities are not publicly traded. Is there anything about the ESOP nature of such a plan that would preclude it from relying on the small-plan excuse from an independent qualified public accountant's audit of the plan's financial statements? Peter Gulia PC Fiduciary Guidance Counsel Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 215-732-1552 Peter@FiduciaryGuidanceCounsel.com Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GMK Posted January 5, 2016 Share Posted January 5, 2016 The audit provides a level of independent proof, if you will, that the plan is being run properly, which is significant protection for the plan sponsor and the fiduciaries, should anyone care to raise questions. In addition, the audit can catch things early for correction before they become a lengthy history of oops. It's expensive, but I'm glad that we do it for our little ESOP. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ESOP Guy Posted January 5, 2016 Share Posted January 5, 2016 We have plenty of small ESOPs as clients that don't have audits done and rely on the small plan exception. Doghouse 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now