Our Employee Benefit Plan (EBP) service team specializes in audit and consulting services for this highly regulated and complex practice area. We work with plan sponsors and employers to support compliance with ERISA and Department of Labor (DOL) reporting requirements, address evolving regulatory standards, and deliver high-quality audits for defined contribution and defined benefit plans.
MPB audits employee benefit plans across a broad range of sizes and complexity, including plans with participant counts just exceeding the 100-participant audit threshold to those over ten thousand and asset levels ranging from a couple million to over a billion dollars.
Types of Employee Benefit Plans
- 401(k) Plans
- 403(b) Plans
- Profit Sharing Plans
- Employee Stock Ownership Plans (ESOPs)
- Pooled Employer Plans (PEP)
- Other Defined Contribution Plans
- Defined Benefit Plans
- Health and Welfare Plans
Employee Benefit Plan Services
- ERISA Section and non-ERISA Section Audits
- Mock Audits
- Form 5500 Preparation and Review
- Assistance with Responses to IRS or DOL Notices
- Agreed Upon Procedure Agreements
- Retirement Plan Consulting
- Training and Education Seminars
Why Selecting a Quality CPA Firm is Important for Your ERISA Plan
Choosing a firm with deep EBP experience, advanced training, and a thoughtful, well-defined process is essential—particularly as the Department of Labor (DOL) continues to emphasize audit quality and the importance of selecting a qualified auditor. Whether your plan is straightforward or complex, our specialists help ensure a smooth transition to our EBP audit team.
The DOL considers the selection of a competent independent auditor to be a required fiduciary duty of plan officials. As a plan sponsor and fiduciary, you are responsible for engaging an auditor with the skill, experience, and resources necessary to perform a high-quality EBP audit. Plan sponsors can have their Form 5500 filings rejected or be subjected to other penalties or sanctions when the DOL finds the audit engagement was not performed in accordance with the professional standards. The DOL has issued a plan advisory for selecting an auditor for your employee benefit plan.
The Department of Labor (DOL) has repeatedly emphasized the importance of obtaining a high-quality audit performed by a CPA firm with specialized employee benefit plan experience, noting that deficiencies in plan audits remain a common issue across the industry. Through multiple audit quality reviews, the DOL has consistently observed that firms with limited experience auditing employee benefit plans are significantly more likely to perform audits that do not fully comply with ERISA and applicable professional standards. In contrast, firms with established employee benefit plan audit practices demonstrate stronger audit quality and more consistent compliance with regulatory requirements. The study also indicated audits performed by members of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants’ (AICPA) Employee Benefit Plan Audit Quality Center had a significantly lower deficiency rate.
These reviews also highlight the importance of engaging firms that invest in employee benefit plan expertise, including specialized training, dedicated resources, and adherence to best practices promoted by professional organizations such as the AICPA’s Employee Benefit Plan Audit Quality Center. Selecting an experienced and qualified audit firm helps reduce the risk of audit deficiencies, regulatory scrutiny, and potential fiduciary exposure, and supports the Plan’s overall compliance and governance objectives.
Why MPB is the Right Choice for Your Retirement Plan
Employee benefit plan audits should be completed with minimal disruption to your organization. In today’s challenging job market, making the most of your employees’ time is crucial to the success of your organization. Based on the number of plans we audit we have extensive experience working with most of the major service providers and are familiar with the services they perform and how to utilize and integrate the various reports they provide. This experience allows our specialized team members to minimize the time investment of your personnel. Our experienced CPAs meet the DOL’s recommended auditor selection criteria through specialized EBP training, extensive plan audit experience, a strong understanding of ERISA and DOL reporting requirements, and a disciplined, quality-focused audit approach grounded in professional standards.
Our teams plan early and work consistently throughout the engagement, helping to avoid unnecessary surprises or last-minute pressures. Engagement timelines are carefully crafted and aligned with your organization’s calendar, allowing deadlines to be met efficiently and predictably.
Many of our staff regularly attend external conferences and training events to stay abreast of new developments, network with other industry professionals, and share best practices. Our leadership understands that our people are our greatest asset, and our commitment to training, specialization, and career development allows us to deliver high-quality service while retaining experienced professionals at rates exceeding industry norms.
