Can a non officer, non owner manager sign 5500?

[Guest JimChad]

Can an office manager that is not an officer of the company sign the front page of the 5500 for the Plan Administrator or the Employer? This is a single company 401K. She is a trustee of the Plan. And I do mean signing her own name.

[QDROphile]

It is a matter of corporate governance. If she is authorized to sign on behalf of the entity, she may sign. Authority can be special or general, express or implied. Authority may be inherent in the position. One would not expect to find inherhent authority in a "manager," but that term has no particular meaning except as the entity gives it meaning. Your question cannot be answered with any certainty in the abstract. Perhaps it may help to ask if any board member (or equivalent if the company is not a corporation) or officer would assert that she should not have signed. If no one would object, that is a clue she has at least implied authority.