Small Plan Audit Waiver to come under scrutiny

[austin3515]

http://asppa-net.org/News/Browse-Topics/Sales-Marketing/Article/ArticleID/3090

I know, I should have posted in 5500's section but I thought this was "big news" and this forum gets the most traffic.

[Peter Gulia]

Thank you for this news.

And how much should a TPA bill its client for explaining the Inspector General's request letter?

[Tom Poje]

this sounds like a plot by Dr. Evil.

where oh where is Austin Powers when we need him?

[austin3515]

I have not seen a letter, but if you're just talking about the "normal plans" I would not worry too much. I worry about the plan's with real estate because as far as I know it is very difficult to get a fidelity bond covering real estate (at least that's what I think I have heard). That's been our experience anyway.

But I think the biggest gotcha here is going to be the non-custodian record-keepers. I think a lot of TPA's (not those who frequent these boards of course!) miss that the SAR must disclose the custodian because the recordkeeper is not a "regulated financial institution." (i.e., Schwab is custodian but someone other entity is recordkeeper). That's assuming whoever is doing the review appreciates that finer distinction .

[austin3515]

Apparently he can make this problem go away for just "1 million dollars"

And of course, that's not really a lot of money these days...