Audits of Employee Benefit Plans Conference

Overview

Find practical, up-to-date information to deliver efficient and effective audits for your clients. Fill your audit toolbox and discover new ways to anticipate challenges and maintain compliance.

Highlights

See agenda tab above for session descriptions.

Designed For

CPAS, auditors and other financial professionals who are responsible for auditing employee benefit plans

Notice

The conference is co-sponsored and administered by the Minnesota Society of CPAs.

Fees

Credits

Code

Vendor

Fields of Study

Monday, May 22

General Session

8:00am - 9:20am Department of Labor Update

Discuss the work being done at Employee Benefits Security Administration’s (EBSA) Office of the Chief Accountant, including the office’s audit quality study and changes to the 2021 Form 5500 to align with SAS 136. Get tips on how to help your clients comply with the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA). Examine why some audits of employee benefit plans are deemed deficient and what you can do to ensure your audits are satisfactory.

Session field of study: Auditing (1.5 hours)

Speaker: Lynne McMennamin, CPA | U.S. Department of Labor

This session is available to registrants only.

General Session

9:30am - 10:20am Form 5500 and ERISA Audits

Most clients that sponsor a retirement savings plan must file Form 5500, so you must know how to leverage this form in your audit. Learn more about the 80-120 rule, a deemed loan versus a distribution loan, and how to use Schedule A, C and D to plan your audit and assist in drafting and reviewing the financials. Additionally, examine what to do if there is an inappropriate fidelity bond coverage, how to report corrections needed and much more.

Session field of study: Auditing (1 hour)

Speaker: Adam Campbell, CPA | Eide Bailly

This session is available to registrants only.

General Session

10:35am - 11:50am Investment Roundtable

Investments play a huge role in employee benefit plans and knowing your way around them in an audit is critical. How do you tell if you have a fully benefit responsive investment contract (FBRIC)? What is the difference between a pooled separate account (PSA), common collective trust (CCT) and mutual fund? When do you have a master trust? When do you have to do net asset value (NAV) disclosures? Fill in your expertise gaps with helpful advice and examples.

Session field of study: Auditing (1.5 hours)

Speakers:

Eillen Brassil, CPA, CFE | Legacy Professionals LLP
Marjorie Heap, CPA | Eide Bailly LLP
Matt Voecks, RPA, CPFA, AIF© | Pensionmark
Melissa Wolf, CPA | Eide Bailly

This session is available to registrants only.

General Session

12:45pm - 1:35pm ERISA Compliance Update

Department of Labor (DOL) audits often raise fiduciary breaches, which can result in significant penalties. Audits have also begun focusing on cybersecurity issues and ensuring that participant information is protected. Review current guidance from the DOL regarding cybersecurity, discuss how to manage fiduciary obligations and get an overview of recent DOL developments. Stay informed of recent trends from the DOL so you can better advise your clients.

Session field of study: Auditing (1 hour)

Speaker: Debra Linder, JD/MA, CPA | Fredrikson & Byron, P.A.,

This session is available to registrants only.

General Session

1:45pm - 2:35pm Emerging Topics for 2023

Employee benefit plan auditors and accountants continue to face challenges in 2023. Prepare for the upcoming filing season and beyond as you explore developments with SAS 136 implementation, mergers and acquisitions, change in service providers and new accounting and auditing standards on the near horizon. Protect plan participants’ benefits with specific guidance tailored to the financial reporting and audits of employee benefit plans.

Session field of study: Auditing (1 hour)

Speaker: Eillen Brassil, CPA, CFE | Legacy Professionals LLP

This session is available to registrants only.

General Session

2:50pm - 4:30pm Panel Discussion: Ask the Experts

Take advantage of this interactive session and get answers to your most pressing questions. Get practical help with SOC 1 reports and qualified opinions, what kind of work is required when a plan changes service providers, how much to rely on specialists in an audit and so much more.

Session field of study: Auditing (2 hours)

Speakers:

Adam Campbell, CPA | Eide Bailly
Moderator: Marjorie Heap, CPA | Eide Bailly LLP
Debra Linder, JD/MA, CPA | Fredrikson & Byron, P.A
Lynne McMennamin, CPA | U.S. Department of Labor

This session is available to registrants only.

Leader Bios

Adam Campbell

Adam Campbell, CPA, is a partner at Eide Bailly, LLP. He provides audit and consulting services for employee benefit plans. Adam serves as the lead partner for approximately 45 employee benefit plan engagements each year, with a specialty in defined contribution and defined benefit plans, and he also performs SOC 1 and SOC 2 examinations. Adam is heavily involved in developing and executing Eide Bailly’s internal employee benefit plan trainings and seminars. He also serves on Eide Bailly’s firmwide ERISA Technical Issues Committee and the firm’s internal employee benefit plan administrators SOC review team.

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Debra Linder

Debra J. Linder, JD/MA, CPA, is a shareholder in the compensation planning and employee benefits group at Fredrikson & Byron, P.A. She advises large and small public, closely held and tax-exempt employers on plan design, administration and compliance issues. She speaks frequently to professional and business groups about recent developments in benefits and executive compensation. In the past, she served as adjunct faculty at the University of St. Thomas, teaching courses in the administration of retirement and welfare benefit plans.

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Eileen Brassil

Eileen Brassil, CPA, CFE, is a partner in the audit department at Legacy Professionals LLP and serves on the firm’s management committee. She specializes in employee benefit plans, supervises and trains staff and performs quality control reviews for the firm’s three offices. Eileen recently completed her service on the AICPA Employee Benefit Plans Expert Panel. Prior to serving on the panel, she served on the executive committee of the AICPA Employee Benefit Plan Quality Center. Eileen is an active member of the International Foundation of Employee Benefit Plans.

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Lynne McMennamin

Lynne McMennamin, CPA, is an auditor in the Division of Accounting Services and a senior reporting compliance specialist in the Division of Reporting Compliance in EBSA’s Office of the Chief Accountant. Before joining the Department of Labor in 2013 she spent more than 20 years in public accounting, including 10 years as a partner with an international accounting firm. Lynne has served on the AICPA Employee Benefit Plan Expert Panel and the AICPA Employee Benefit Plan Audit Quality Center executive committee.

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Marjorie Heap

Marjorie H. Heap, CPA, a senior manager with Eide Bailly, LLP, has experience in all phases of employee benefit plan engagements including planning, execution and quality control. In addition, she has a wide variety of public accounting experience covering all levels of financial statement service across several industries, developing and teaching training programs, and involvement in various levels of firm quality control.

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Matt Voecks

Matt Voecks, RPA, CPFA, AIF©, is a CEFEX-certified retirement plan adviser with SevenHills Benefit Partners – A Pensionmark Associate. He has been consulting with qualified retirement plans since 2004 and has expertise in plan design and investment process. As a qualified plan consultant, Matt assists his plan sponsor clients in meeting their fiduciary obligations to their participants and strategically aligns the communication effort with organizational goals.

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Melissa Wolf

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