| Dear Center Members: |
This alert contains:
- Instructions for registering to participate in the April EBPAQC webinars;
- 2019 Managers and Supervisors Audit Planning (April 26)
- 2019 Designated Partner Planning Rebroadcast (April 22)
- Information about the DOL’s trend analysis, An Analysis of Benefit Plan Auditors
See below for a description and registration information for each webinar. If you previously saved the date on your calendar for these web events by clicking on the "Outlook Calendar hold" option in EBPAQC Alert #417, you still need to register for these events by clicking on the registration links below.
You can forward this Alert to other individuals in your firm that you would like to register for these webinars. |
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April 26 Managers and Supervisors Audit Planning Webinar
The 2019 Managers and Supervisors Audit Planning Webinar will be held on Friday, April 26, from 1:00 p.m. - 3:00 p.m. Eastern Time. Paid CPE credit and no-CPE credit options are available.
Click here to register for the April 26 Managers and Supervisors Audit Planning webinar
This very popular live webinar event is specifically designed for individuals who manage or supervise ERISA EBP audits to assist them in planning for their 2019 engagements. It will include a reminder about important areas where EBP audit deficiencies are common, an update on the DOL activities and findings in their continuing firm and workpaper review programs, examples of deficient work found by Peer Review and how to avoid those deficiencies, and a discussion of new standards and industry developments. Throughout the program, speakers will provide information about the tools and resources available from the EBPAQC that can help. The webinar also will include roundtable discussions on audit efficiencies and firm best practices to help you address common audit deficiencies, and a question and answer session.
Panelists for this webinar are EBPAQC Executive Committee members John Nicolopoulos, RSM US LLP; Jodi Rinne, BerganKDV; and Wendy Terry, WithumSmith+Brown, PC; Karlye Broten, CliftonLarsonAllen LLP; and Marcus Aron, DOL EBSA Office of the Chief Accountant.
The webinar qualifies for 100 minutes (two hours) of CPE credits with paid registration.
A rebroadcast of this webinar will be offered on Tuesday, June 4 from 1:00 p.m. - 3:00 p.m. Eastern Time (paid CPE credit only). Look for registration details approximately three weeks before the rebroadcast.
April 22 Rebroadcast - 2019 Designated Audit Quality Partner Audit Planning Webinar
The first rebroadcast of the 2019 Designated Partner Audit Planning webinar (January 25 live event) will be offered on Monday, April 22, 2019 from 1:00 p.m.-3:00 p.m. ET (paid with CPE credit). This webinar is for firm designated audit quality partners to assist them in preparing their firms for the 2019 EBP audit season. All designated audit quality partners of EBPAQC member firms are required to participate in the annual Designated Partner Audit Planning webinar. If you participated in the January 25 live event you do not need to participate in the rebroadcast.
Click here to register for the April 22 Designated Partner Audit Planning Rebroadcast webinar
Discussion topics for this webinar include:
- DOL update
- Key accounting and auditing issues for EBP audits this year and on the near horizon
- EBP best practices and audit quality initiatives
- New Center tools and resources
- Ask the experts Q & A session
Panelists for this webinar are Ian MacKay, AICPA EBPAQC; Jennifer Allen, Crowe LLP; Josie Hammond, RSM US LLP; and Michael Auerbach, Chief Accountant, DOL EBSA.
The webinar qualifies for 120 minutes of CPE credits with paid registration.
Archive of Live Forum Webinars
The webinar audio and slide presentations will be archived on the Center website under Past Events. No CPE is available for listening to the archived event.
DOL Trend Analysis of EBP Auditor Selection and Switching Behavior
The DOL recently issued a report, An Analysis of Benefit Plan Auditors, which presents findings from a trend analysis of CPA selection and switching behavior over time through examination of Form 5500 filing data and audit reviews conducted by the DOL Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA) between Plan Years 2011 and 2015. The DOL contracted Summit Consulting, LLC (Summit) to conduct the analysis to explore year-over-year changes in the benefit plan population, effects on audit quality when plan administrators change CPA firms, and whether plan administrators choose CPA firms that historically perform high- or low-quality audit work. The study also examines what happens after a CPA firm receives a deficient audit assessment from EBSA.
The report includes three major findings:
- Employee benefit plan practice size is the strongest predictor of CPA firm exit from the industry. Receiving a major deficiency from EBSA based on review of audit work papers also predicts CPA exit, when controlling for employee benefit plan practice size. An EBSA review alone has no statistically significant association with CPA exit, when controlling for employee benefit plan practice size and major deficiency in the model.
- On average, 7.5% of plans switch CPA firms every year. Switch rates do not show significant differences across plan entity type or plan assets; are highest for plans that choose CPA firms that audit fewer than six plans per year; and decrease as plans choose CPA firms that perform more benefit plan audits. Reasons for terminating a CPA firm fall into eight broad themes: bidding, staff changes, business relationship, satisfaction with service, standard business practice, proximity to CPA firm, independence concerns, and size of firm.
- Plans with an audit that received a major deficiency (of audit work papers) are more likely to switch CPA firms than all other plans. Larger plans are less likely to switch CPA firms following a negative EBSA review than smaller plans. Plans that do switch are switching away from CPAs that audit very few employee benefit plans and toward CPAs that audit more employee benefit plans. All of this evidence suggests that the population of CPAs is changing and that the more benefit plan audits a CPA firm performs, the more likely that auditor is to stay in the market.
Click here for the full DOL trend analysis.
Sincerely,
AICPA Employee Benefit Plan Audit Quality Center |
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