| Dear Center Members: |
This alert discusses:
- Mandatory EBPAQC membership requirements compliance assessment questionnaire
- AICPA comment letter on proposed Form 5500 revisions
- Revised peer reviewer engagement checklist for EBP audits
- Revised AICPA EBP Audit and Accounting Guide (August 2021 version)
- December 6-7 AICPA EBP Accounting, Auditing and Regulatory Update Online Conference
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Mandatory EBPAQC Membership Requirements Compliance Assessment Questionnaire
The annual mandatory EBPAQC Membership Requirements Compliance Assessment Questionnaire was emailed to EBPAQC firms on November 1. If you have already completed the questionnaire, thank you for your timely response. If you have not yet completed the questionnaire, we ask that you please complete it by December 10. If you did not receive the compliance questionnaire or have questions about completing the questionnaire, please email the Center at ebpaqc@aicpa.org. Thank you for your continued commitment to quality and for being a member of the EBPAQC.
AICPA Comments on Proposed Form 5500 revisions
The AICPA EBPAQC Executive Committee and EBP Expert Panel recently commented to the DOL on proposed changes to the Form 5500 to implement annual reporting provisions in the SECURE Act related to PEPs and combined reporting by a group of defined contribution plans. The proposal also included a change to the current method of counting covered participants for purposes of determining when a defined contribution plan may file as a small plan and be exempt from the financial statement audit requirement, changes in reporting investment information, and establishing a standardized electronic filing format for investment information to create a searchable reporting format.
The AICPA comment letter emphasized the importance of the audit as a safeguard established by Congress in ERISA to protect plan participants. The AICPA supports the DOL's efforts to reevaluate the cost benefit of a financial statement audit for small plans but expressed concerns about the diminished protections to plan participants. The AICPA highlighted other significant considerations that should be made by the DOL before finalizing a change to the audit threshold including cost-effective alternatives to a financial statement audit for small plans such as certain compliance assessment procedures performed by CPAs in accordance with professional attestation standards. The AICPA also encouraged the DOL to reevaluate the change in audit threshold as part of its separate project focusing on a broader range of improvements to the Form 5500 annual reporting requirements rather than in the annual forms update project.
Click here to read the AICPA comment letter on DOL's Annual Reporting and Disclosure proposal.
Peer Reviewer Engagement Checklist for Employee Benefit Plan Audits
The October 2021 AICPA Peer Review Employee Benefit Plan Audit Engagement Checklist is now available. The checklist has been updated to include requirements associated with both SAS No. 136, Forming an Opinion and Reporting on Financial Statements of Employee Benefit Plans Subject to ERISA, as amended, and engagements performed prior to implementing SAS No. 136. The peer reviewer checklist can be used as a helpful tool in performing the annual self-inspection of your firm’s ERISA employee benefit plan audit practice as required by EBPAQC membership.
Click here for the October 2021 AICPA Peer Review Employee Benefit Plan Audit Engagement Checklist.
2021 AICPA EBP Audit and Accounting Guide
The AICPA recently issued the 2021 edition of the Audit and Accounting Guide, Employee Benefit Plans (through August 1, 2021), which addresses the auditor's responsibilities under SAS No. 136, Forming an Opinion and Reporting on Financial Statements of Employee Benefit Plans Subject to ERISA, as amended (codified in AU-C section 703) and other new auditing standards, and includes:
- a new chapter on multiemployer benefit plans accounting and auditing (chapter 9).
- guidance on the applicability of FASB ASC 606, Revenue from Contracts with Customers (paras. 2.157 – 2.161) to employee benefit plans.
- a table of typical income (cash inflow) streams in an employee benefit plan with considerations for determining whether the income streams are subject to the guidance on FASB ASC 606 (Exhibit A-4).
Click here to purchase the Essential A&A Research Collection and access to the AICPA Online Professional Library (subscription required).
Click here to order the e-book version.
Click here to be notified when the paperback (print) version becomes available (expected in late November or early December).
December 6-7 AICPA EBP Accounting, Auditing and Regulatory Update Online Conference - Special Member Benefit
The AICPA Employee Benefit Plans Accounting, Auditing and Regulatory Update (AARU) Online Conference will be held virtually on December 6-7, 2021. This conference offers up to 8 hours of CPE credit. It is specifically designed over 2 half-days (12:30-4:50 p.m. Eastern Time (ET)), to allow both east and west coast participants to interact and chat live during sessions with the speakers and other fellow virtual attendees.
The online conference will include an employee benefit plans legislative update; two audit & accounting sessions, including SAS 136 implementation and a SAS 136 Q&A session with speakers whose firms have adopted the standard; a Department of Labor (DOL) update; a financial statement refresh session to revisit financial statements and ensure that they are up to date with fair value standards and other relevant standards that impact reporting; a session on multiple employer plans (MEPs) and pooled employer plans (PEPs) filings; and cybersecurity. The conference will wrap-up with the popular "Ask the Experts" session.
EBPAQC members qualify for an additional $50 discount. Be sure to enter the coupon code "EBPAQC."
Click here to register the December 6-7 AICPA Employee Benefit Plans Accounting, Auditing and Regulatory Online Update (AARU) Conference.
Sincerely,
AICPA Employee Benefit Plans Audit Quality Center |
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