Our Compensation and Benefits (CAB) Services Group at Anchin provides a variety of services to our clients including the audit of qualified retirement plans. Our audits focus on compliance issues, including Department of Labor (DOL) “hot topics” such as timely payments, testing investment allocations, payroll systems and allocation of contributions to participants. We understand the highly technical areas of performing Employee Benefit Plan (EBP) audits. That's why we have a core team of dedicated professionals who possess the specialized knowledge and experience to help ensure compliance with the appropriate standards and changes in regulations that may impact your company's EBP audit.
We presently audit more than 70 EBP plans. We plan and execute our audits in a way that maximizes audit efficiency and quality, and we offer your plan administrator and human resources personnel confidence in their plan reporting and management. During our audit we often uncover plan deficiencies and help correct them so that companies are not in jeopardy of violating DOL or Internal Revenue Service (IRS) rules. We utilize a standard paperless audit process to ensure the process is as efficient and smooth as possible.
Our Quality Commitment
Anchin, Block & Anchin is a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountant's (AICPA) Employee Benefit Plan Audit Quality Center. As a member, we are committed to adhering to the highest quality standards by voluntarily agreeing to the Center membership requirements. These requirements include designating a partner responsible for our CAB Services Group, establishing quality control programs, performing annual internal inspection procedures, and making our peer review report findings publicly available.
Our EBP audits have been reviewed by both the DOL and peer review and neither have ever determined any issues with the quality of our work. Our clients are confident of the high level of quality control and standards that we bring to our plan audits.
Summary of Services
Our CAB Services Group performs the services requested by our client's including:
Audits of EBP's. We have performed audits of a variety of EBP plans including, 401(k), profit sharing, money purchase, defined benefit and ESOP's.
Consulting services. We provide expertise in the establishment of new plans, both qualified and non-qualified, including stock compensation, 401(k), profit sharing, cash balance, defined benefit, ESOP and phantom stock plans.
Tax preparation and review. We prepare and review Form 5500 and plan documents in order to ensure the plan is functioning in accordance with the plan terms, as even the smallest error may result in issues with the DOL.
Staff Expertise
Many members of our CAB Services Group stay abreast of the legislation in this highly technical practice area by attending various continuing education programs, including the AICPA National Conference on EBP. We have also developed relationships with the IRS and the DOL to get timely responses to complex technical issues that may arise. These relationships help in the development and delivery of our EBP audit services.
Clarence Kehoe, an executive partner at Anchin, co-chairs our CAB Services Group. He is frequently quoted and published in the New York Law Journal and Pension Plan Administrator and has spoken at past AICPA conferences on EBP. Many of his clients include employers and plan sponsors. He works with these clients to create, draft, and implement benefit plans, and equity and non-equity based executive compensation programs.
Edward Thorp, an accounting and audit partner at Anchin, serves as co-chair and audit partner-in-charge of our CAB Services Group. He is also the designated in-charge partner for Anchin's membership in the AICPA Employee Benefit Plan Audit Quality Center. Throughout his career at Anchin, Ed has played an integral role in assisting our clients in the audit of their EBP's.