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Industries/Employee benefit plans

Audit file prep for employee benefit plans.

Plan audits repeat the same tests every year: eligibility, contributions, loans, distributions. The standard pack ties the plan’s books to its draft statements; the plan testing stays with your team unless agreed up front.

Certified assets and the audit scope

Where plan assets are held by a bank, similar institution or insurance carrier that is regulated, supervised and subject to periodic examination, the accountant’s examination may exclude information the institution prepared and certified in accordance with 29 CFR 2520.103-5 (29 CFR 2520.103-8). Whether a plan qualifies, and what the report says about it, is your firm’s decision. The rest of the file, from participant data to contributions, still needs full testing by your team. The source is linked at the foot of this page.

What every file gets

The pack is the same on every file, in every industry. It is built from the client’s QuickBooks books and the documents your firm sends.

Lead schedules
Every trial balance account classified to a US GAAP line, in Excel and PDF, with prior-year final, per-books, adjustment and final columns.
Tie-out of the draft
The client’s draft statements re-added and every line agreed to the trial balance. Differences are findings about the draft, never silent changes to the books.
Fixed-rule ledger checks
Revenue cutoff, duplicate payments, journal entry testing, split purchases, opening balances, flux analysis, bank reconciliation and more. Each finding names its rule.
Proposed entries
A finding cites the evidence line and the standard, and proposes an adjusting entry. Nothing is posted to the books.
Review trail
A reviewer decides each finding and records a reason. Initials and dates travel with the working papers.
Inputs received and missing
The file shows what arrived and what did not, tied to the findings that need it.

Where the judgment sits on a plan file

These areas decide the file. Industry-specific schedules are not part of the standard pack. Whether CORAA drafts any of them for a given file is agreed on the intake call before anything is uploaded, and what is not agreed stays with your team.

Areas your team will spend its time on

  • Participant data testing
  • Contribution remittance
  • Loans and distributions
  • Financial statement tie-out
  • Nondiscrimination testing support

Typical PBC items from the client

PBC items from the client

  • Plan document, amendments and adoption agreement
  • Census and payroll registers for the plan year
  • Trustee or custodian statements and the certification, if any
  • Third-party administrator reports and compliance test results
  • Participant loan listing and notes
  • Prior-year Form 5500 and the audit report

Where plan files go wrong

Late deposits of deferrals
Employee deferrals deposited late.
Definition of compensation
Payroll data that does not match the plan’s definition of pay.
Terminated participants
Eligibility, vesting and distribution for people who left.

What stays with your firm on plan files

Fulfilled by CORAA means CORAA AI drafts the file and CORAA Network reviewers clear every flag, with a line-by-line review log. Your manager and partner then review it as they would any staff-prepared file. Your firm keeps the client, the engagement letter, the professional judgment and the signature.

CORAA never signs, issues or reports on anything, and never contacts your client unless you ask us to. Your first audit is free, so you can judge the pack on a real file. After that the fee is flat, set by entity size, and messy books are included.

Free resources for this work

Guides, templates and calculators on this site that cover the same ground. All free to use.

Guide401(k) Audit Requirements: The 100-Participant Rule, ERISA 103(a)(3)(C) Audits and SAS 136GuidePlan Audit Prep: Testing Participant Data, Contributions and Late DepositsGuideERISA 103(a)(3)(C) Limited-Scope Audits: What 29 CFR 2520.103-8 Covers and What You Still AuditGuideEmployee Benefit Plan Audit Timeline: Form 5500 Due Dates, Form 5558 and the Automatic ExtensionGuideWhat EBSA Looks For in Employee Benefit Plan Audits: DOL Findings, Rejections and Quality ProblemsTemplateEmployee Benefit Plan Audit Planning Memo (ERISA)TemplateEmployee Benefit Plan Participant Data Testing WorkpaperTemplateContributions and Remittance Testing Workpaper (Retirement Plan)Template401(k) Plan Audit PBC ListTemplateForm 5500 Schedule H to Financial Statement ReconciliationToolForm 5500 Audit Requirement Calculator: 100-Participant Test and 80-120 Rule

Questions firms ask

No. The filing and the signature on the audit report stay with the plan and your firm.
Yes. Each audit is a flat fee by entity size, and the first one is free.
We ask only for what the file needs. CORAA is ISO/IEC 27001:2022 certified, and an NDA and a data processing agreement are signed before any upload.
No. That decision, the audit scope and the wording of the report are your firm’s.
Your first audit is free. After that, a flat fee per audit, set by entity size. Messy books are included, never a surcharge.

Sources: 29 CFR 2520.103-8 (eCFR) · AICPA Statements on Auditing Standards, currently effective

More in industries
IndustriesGovernmental entitiesFederal award files under the Uniform Guidance: the threshold rule, the pack and the PBC list.IndustriesNonprofit organizationsRestricted net assets, grants and functional expenses: the pack, the PBC list and the judgment areas.IndustriesStaffing firmsGross versus net revenue, payroll liabilities and receivables: the pack, the PBC list and the judgment areas.
For US CPA firms

Join the CORAA waitlist

CORAA AI drafts audit working papers from your client’s QuickBooks books and does the first pass: lead schedules, tie-out, memos, draft notes and letters. CORAA Network reviewers clear every finding. Your firm reviews and signs.

  • First audit free, so you can judge the quality on a real file
  • Flat fee by entity size; messy books included
  • We work only with CPA firms, never their clients
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