The state of employee benefit plan audits today can be boiled down to four words:

Better, but not great.

The most recent Audit Quality Report from the U.S. Department of Labor, published in November 2023, found that the number of employee benefit plan audits conducted by independent, qualified public accountants that contained major deficiencies fell from 39% to 30% between 2015 and 2020.

That's good news, to be sure ... but it still leaves three out of 10 such audits with major deficiencies.

"This puts $927 billion and 11.7 million plan participants and beneficiaries at risk, an increase of $274 billion compared with prior EBSA studies," the report states.

Work continues throughout the profession to improve those numbers. "The DOL has been collaborating with auditors, the American Institute of CPAs, the Financial Accounting Standards Board, the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board and others on improving EBP audits, working to update standards, develop and share best practices, identify underperforming auditors, and more," Accounting Today reports.

In addition, the DOL's Employee Benefits Security Administration is working with state CPA societies "to create educational and outreach programs to provide guidance and heightened awareness to independent auditors who conduct employee benefit plan audits," especially for CPAs who perform only a limited number of plan audits. Research has found that experience matters: Firms that perform 100 or more employee benefit plan audits per year have the lowest rate of major deficiencies.

Learn more at the MACPA's 2024 employee benefit plan audit events

The MACPA is holding a pair of events in May to help CPAs improve their employee benefit plan auditing acumen:

• The 2024 Employee Benefit Plan Audit Conference, scheduled for May 13, will equip CPAs who audit employee benefit plans with guidance on planning and performing more efficient and effective audits by the AICPA Audit and Accounting Guide and Department of Labor audit requirements.
• The 2024 Employee Benefit Plan Basic Audit Workshop, scheduled for May 20, will walk attendees through the required audit procedures for CPAs who are new to auditing EBPs.

Learn more and register for either or both of these important events. 

AICPA resources available

The AICPA also offers a number of resources to help auditors meet the challenges presented by this unique and complex area. Visit the AICPA's Employee Benefit Plans Resource Center to explore all of the available tools.