Attachment of Auditor's opin

[austin3515]

IOn Rleius, there is an attachment for Accountants Opinion, which is where we are putting the audited statements. When we do this, we get no validation errors.

But there is also this:

"financial statements used in formulating accountant's opinion"

What the heck is that??

[chc93]

IOn Rleius, there is an attachment for Accountants Opinion, which is where we are putting the audited statements. When we do this, we get no validation errors.

But there is also this:

"financial statements used in formulating accountant's opinion"

What the heck is that??

I've recently had to look at the "short plan year" exception to attaching the IQPA report. In DOL 2520.104-50, it appears that the "accountant's report" and the "financial statements" are different, even if the requirements of the "financial statements" in ERISA section 103(b) appear to have all the requirements of an IQPA. I think maybe the difference is that the IQPA has the auditor's cover letter and signature. So if you're only attaching the "financial statements" but not a signed IQPA, maybe this is what it is. In any case, we've never done this... always had the signed IQPA.

[Andy the Actuary]

My interpretation. There are typically 5 attachments that can be added through the "edit attachment" button.

(1) Accountant's opinion is one-page letter

(2) Assets held

(3) 5% Reportable Transactions

(4) Assets acquired/disposed of

(5) Information used by accountant to formulate opinion, which is everything not contained in (1) - (4).

If you look at EFAST editing screen drop-down menu for attachment type, you will note the same categories. What I'm doing is busting the auditor's massive report up into little pdfs. I would advise against requesting the auditor to do this because if one of the pdf files is corrupt, it may not be easy to detect.

[Tom Poje]

there are of course a large number of attachments possible, but i would think 2 other common ones are:

Delinquent Employer Contributions (as I understand it, its optional to inlcude this for those late deferral that were corrected)

if you are 'signing' then the attachment that has the clients signature

[Bill Presson]

My interpretation. There are typically 5 attachments that can be added through the "edit attachment" button.

(1) Accountant's opinion is one-page letter

(2) Assets held

(3) 5% Reportable Transactions

(4) Assets acquired/disposed of

(5) Information used by accountant to formulate opinion, which is everything not contained in (1) - (4).

If you look at EFAST editing screen drop-down menu for attachment type, you will note the same categories. What I'm doing is busting the auditor's massive report up into little pdfs. I would advise against requesting the auditor to do this because if one of the pdf files is corrupt, it may not be easy to detect.

Because of this confusion, Efast2 is also allowing people to submit the entire audit pdf for each attachment without having to split the individiual items out.

Q24a: I only received one file from my IQPA containing both the signed Accountant’s Opinion and the supporting Financial Statements. Do I need to separate this file into the AO Attachment and the Financial Statements Attachment?

The EFAST2 system checks that certain attachments required by the Form 5500 Instructions are included in a filing. Attachments must be included using the proper “tag” for the attachment. Ideally each required attachment should be its own file and attached to your electronic filing with the proper “tag.” If you do not include a required attachment or use an incorrect “tag,” you may get an error or warning message from the EFAST2 system that you did not include a required attachment. The EFAST2 Guide for Filers and Service Providers, Appendix E, provides a map of attachments with the “tag” used by EFAST2. The guide is available through the EFAST2 website at www.efast.dol.gov/fip/pubs/EFAST2_Guide_Filers_Service_Providers.pdf.

If your IQPA report contains both the signed Accountant’s Opinion and the supporting audit report and financial statements, you do not need to separate the document. You may upload the entire IQPA report into the “AO” Attachment “tag” as a single PDF file.

Also, if your Return/Report requires the submission of a Schedule of Assets or a Schedule of Reportable Transactions, you must upload these documents separately into the appropriate attachment “tag.” If you must file both schedules but do not have separate files, you may wish to either:

1. Upload the same combined file into each of the required attachment type tags. You need to be careful doing this though because if your completed Form 5500 is very large (contains upwards of 100 pages of attachments in total), you will likely have difficulty transmitting the filing to EFAST2 due to the total size of the file.
   
2. Create a separate document with a brief statement that the required Schedule of Assets and/or Schedule of Reportable Transactions is included in the Accountant's audit report attachment, and upload that document where you would otherwise upload the Schedule of Assets and/or Schedule of Reportable Transactions, using the appropriate tag(s) for those attachment(s).