DOL Plan audits

These audits are ridiculous. After the initial document/information request, the answers to which were properly and timely submitted to the DOL, they then came back some months later with a list of over 70 different requests - and any many of those questions have several sub-parts. All this for a nice, clean little non-audited 401(k) plan.

Our tax dollars at work...

Edited for typo.

We went with 6 or 8 rounds and three in-person multiple day visits. Our auditor would forget she asked (and received) certain reports and ask for them again.    Ours was small (<100 participants) but unfortunately had a major transition in the year audited (change in recordkeeper AND TPA and changed from a 403b/401a to a 401k).  The new TPA at the time had an SME who later left. I came onboard the employer right as the audit started and it took a year! In the end we owed one penalty of $1500. But it was a very very big hassle to deal with two recordkeepers, balances that were combined, etc. So glad it's over!