New Designation NIPA/ASPPA-Enrolled Retirement Plan Agent (ERPA)

[Appleby]

Did you get this E-Mail. This would be a good designation

Reminder - ERPA Credentialing Survey Due Date: December 14th

The IRS is considering a new Enrolled Retirement Plan Agent (ERPA) designation to permit retirement plan professionals, who are not otherwise approved to represent employers before the IRS, to communicate with the Service regarding retirement plan matters. Announcement of the ERPA designation may effect changes in the professional credentialing and management decisions of individuals and firms within the industry. New challenges and opportunities may also arise for organizations to customize their credential and education programs in response to the changing environment.

ASPPA and NIPA, two noteworthy retirement professional organizations, have partnered in a survey to collect information regarding the ways in which ERPA might affect you and your firm. The link below will take you to additional background information about ERPA and several survey questions that we ask you to answer. Your input will provide a window on how the industry will respond to ERPA with respect to management and professional education decisions.

If clicking on the link does not bring you to the survey, please highlight the link, copy and paste it into your Web browser.

Survey link: http://inquisite.smithbucklin.com/surveys/H48PJR

Your ideas and opinions are important to ASPPA and NIPA as we consider the impact of ERPA and further improvements to our credential and education programs. SmithBucklin Corporation's Market Research & Statistics Group, a third party research group, has been contracted by ASPPA and NIPA to conduct the ERPA Credentialing Survey. SmithBucklin will maintain the confidentiality of all individual responses as only the aggregate results will be released. Please direct your questions or comments regarding the survey to Mandy Frjelich at afrjelich@smithbucklin.com.

The National Institute of Pension Administrators (NIPA), a national educational association representing the pension administration profession, fosters the highest standard of ethical and professional conduct by retirement and benefit plan practitioners by offering comprehensive educational programs; by sponsoring a certification program with professional designation; and by promoting local chapters to provide opportunities for self-improvement to all members and interested parties. 401 North Michigan Avenue, Suite 2200, Chicago, Illinois 60611

National Institute of Pension Administrators - "Education for a Brighter Future"

[Appleby]

By the way, E:Mail was from NIPA and ASPPA- the header could not be copied.

Neither NIPA nor ASPPA asked me to do this...but I though it would be of interest to many of the members of this board.