Employee Benefit Plan Conference Wrap Up
On Thursday, May 19, 2022, GSCPA kicked off its Employee Benefit Plan Conference. Attendees had the option to attend the event in person or virtually.Lynne McMennamin, a Representative from the U.S. Department of Labor, spoke at the first session of the day by giving the latest updates from the Department of Labor. She discussed what is going on at the Department of Labor that will impact employee benefit plan audits this year, and how to avoid pitfalls that most often plague benefit plan audits.
Ed Emmerson, from J.D.Morris, Manning, & Martin, LLP and Jeffery Seay, from Deay & Weissinger, LLC took on the second session of the day and spoke on Common Plan Operational Deficiencies and Approved Correction Methods. They gave an update on recent IRS/DOL correction method changes. They also provided examples of common operational errors and approved methods for correcting those errors to bring the plan into compliance with the IRC.
Anna Morris, from Windham Brannon, and Missy Herbet, from Warren Averett, spoke at our last session of the morning. They gave an Accounting and Auditing update, including SAS 136. Their session included all the information about SAS 136, forming an opinion and reporting Employee Benefit Plans Subject to ERISA. Their session helped attendees gain an understanding of what they should be doing for the new performance requirements, including engagement acceptance considerations.
The afternoon consisted of breakout sessions that offered attendees session choices based on their interests.
The first breakout session of the afternoon kicked off with Chris Rouse, from Windham Brannon, speaking on Defined Benefit and Health and Welfare Plan- What’s New and What’s Different. In his session, he drilled down what’s different about SAS 136 and sec. 103 for Defined Benefit and Health and Wellness Plans. His looked at specific areas where peer reviewers found nonconforming engagements in these types of plans and gave insights in how to avoid nonconforming.
The other breakout session of choice was led by Anne Morris, from Windham Brannon, and Brian Muia, from Loblolly Solutions. They spoke on Real World Audit Procedures and How to Perform Them More Efficiently. It covered detail testing practices and audit procedures in Employee Benefit audits and workpaper templates.
After a break, the last set of breakout sessions began.
The first option was led by Candace Jackson and Jon Powell, with Moore Colson. They spoke on Cybersecurity- DOL Guidelines, DOL Audits, and Other Best Practices. They discussed the recent changes implemented in April of 2021, and how the Cybersecurity and Employee Benefit Plan worlds collide.
The second session of choice was led by Bruce Burkholder, from Robins, Eskew, Smith & Jordan and Missy Herbert, from Warren Averett. They spoke on what you need to know about Plan Mergers, Spin-offs and Terminations and common pitfalls. The discussed how to understand GAAP and tax treatments for mergers, terminations, and spin-offs; and, how to understand audit procedures relating to these events.
The conference ended with a wrap-up session the last hour where attendees were able to ask questions about employee benefit plans and they were answered by experts in the field.
All of the above sessions will be available soon on-demand at www.gscpa.org.
The Georgia Society of CPAs thanks all the Employee Benefit Plan Conference attendees, both in-person and online. We hope you will plan to join us next year for the 2023 GSCPA Employee Benefit Plan Conference!
For more information on the many CPE options that The Georgia Society of CPAs offers, visit the Continuing Education area of the GSCPA website, www.gscpa.org, or call the CPE Department at 800-330-8889.