Hospice Insights Podcast - Hospice Audit Updates: Hospices Fare Well in Federal Court
Compliance Tip of the Day: Assessing Internal Controls
Compliance Tip of the Day: COSO Objective 5 – Monitoring Activities
Hospice Insights Podcast - Election Inspection: Be Proactive to Avoid Costly Election Statement Denials
Compliance Tip of the Day: COSO Objective 3 – Control Activities
FCPA Compliance Report: Fraud Risk Management - Insights and Experiences with Peter Schablik
Hot Topics in International Trade - Let's Be Serious-Supply Chain Audits
Workplace ICE Raids Are Surging—Here’s How Employers Can Prepare - #WorkforceWednesday® - Employment Law This Week®
REFRESH Five Tax Traps for Business Lawyers Advising Nonprofit Organizations
Hospice Insights Podcast - Hospice Audit Updates: David Beats Goliath
Compliance Tip of the Day: Middle Managers as the Eyes and Ears of Compliance
Episode 365 -- Four Sanctions Cases Everyone Should Know
UPIC Audits
Compliance Tip of the Day: The role of Compliance in Auditing AI
California Employment News: Taking Advantage of the PAGA Reform – How Employers Can Lower Their Risk of PAGA Liability
Auditing Your Hotline and Case Management System
Hospice Insights Podcast - Controlling the Narrative: A New Tactic for Auditors and ALJs
Improving Your Code of Conduct
Now Is the Time to Conduct I-9 Audits: What's the Tea in L&E?
Preparing for — and Surviving — an OFCCP Audit
The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) began terminations of employees on February 20, 2025, with initial news reports of layoffs set to 6,000 terminations and a stated intent to downsize its workforce by upwards of 50 percent as...more
I love Las Vegas. Great restaurants, great shows, and five trips in a row without dropping a nickel into a slot machine. Why? Because I hate gambling. I hate losing even more. Honestly, just getting out of bed every morning...more
I work (outside of plan audits) on a flat fee basis. What I say is the price is the price. If I misjudged the value of a service, the fault lies with me. I still live up to the bargain I made....more
On Friday, September 6, 2024, the U.S. Department of Labor confirmed that its cybersecurity guidance applies to all employee benefit plans, including health and welfare plans. In 2021, the DOL issued guidance providing best...more
It is the first week of summer, even though in Ohio the smoldering heat has made it feel like summer for weeks now. Summer reminds many of us of pool days, eating watermelon and corn on the cob, Fourth of July fireworks, and...more
On February 7, 2024, the IRS announced it has started the second phase of the Pre-Examination Retirement Plan Compliance Program pilot. (IRS Employee Plans News, February 7, 2024) Original Program Pilot - The initial...more
Beginning this year, plan sponsors may increase their qualified plan’s mandatory cash-out limit from $5,000 to $7,000. The increase was enacted by SECURE 2.0, and applies to distributions made after December 31, 2023....more
For plans that require an independent audit, the point of the audit is to determine the financial health of the plan to pay benefits to participants. One aspect is looking at the terms of the plan document, and making sure...more
Errors in retirement plans happen even to the most well-intentioned plan sponsors. Several decades ago, the IRS published the first version of the Employee Plans Compliance Resolution Program (EPCRS), which outlines...more
Recently, the IRS released Notice 2023-43, providing interim guidance on Section 305 of the SECURE 2.0 Act of 2022, which expanded the Employee Plans Compliance Resolution System (EPCRS), the system through which plan...more
They claim that with the change in how we count participants, there will be 20,000 fewer audits. By counting account balances instead of those that are just eligible, it looks like CPAs would see a retraction of their...more
One question that often comes up is whether an expense related to an ERISA plan can be paid with plan assets. The decision of whether to use ERISA plan assets to pay an expense is an ERISA fiduciary decision. With the recent...more
On October 21st, the IRS announced changes to its qualified plan determination letter program. Most notably, the program has been expanded to include section 403(b) tax-sheltered annuity plans (“403(b) plans”). Although...more
The IRS Issue Snapshot-Third Party Loans from Plans dated August 23, 2022 is a short advice document for examiners to use when auditing tax-qualified retirement plans that invest in mortgages or other third party loans. IRS...more
Dear Plan Sponsor - Have you received a letter from the IRS with respect to your retirement plan? If so (or if not, but you want to be prepared in the event you do receive “the letter”), read on....more
On June 3, 2022, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) announced a new pilot program aimed at qualified retirement plan compliance. Pursuant to the program, the IRS will issue a letter to the plan administrator which provides a...more
Under the IRS Employee Plans Compliance Resolution System (EPCRS), as set forth in Revenue Procedure 2021-30, a plan that has been notified of an impending audit cannot remedy issues using the Voluntary Correction Program,...more
The Internal Revenue Service (“IRS”) has announced a pilot program that begins this month in which they will send letters to employers letting them know that their retirement plan has been selected for examination. Under...more
On June 3, 2022, the IRS announced it is launching a pilot pre-examination retirement plan compliance program, which generally will be effective immediately (June 2022). This pilot program essentially gives plan sponsors a...more
In the June 3, 2022, issue of the IRS Employee Plans News, the IRS Employee Plans group announced it is piloting a pre-examination retirement plan compliance program beginning in June 2022. Under this program, the IRS will...more
On June 3, 2022, the Internal Revenue Service (“IRS”) announced a new pre-examination compliance pilot program beginning in June 2022. Under the pilot program, the IRS will notify a plan sponsor by letter that its retirement...more
On June 3, 2022, the IRS announced a new pre-audit compliance program for retirement plans beginning immediately in June 2022 (the “Pilot Program”). Under the Pilot Program, the IRS will send a pre-audit letter to plan...more
Attorneys from our Employee Benefits and Executive Compensation practice provide insights on current issues facing various types of employee benefits programs. Topics include: - Cybersecurity - DOL Audit Initiatives -...more
A plan with 100 or more participants requires an audit of a plan’s financial standing conducted by an independent qualified public accountant to be submitted along with Form 5500....more
The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) issued Revenue Procedure 2021-30, which provides an updated version of the Employee Plans Compliance Resolution System (EPCRS). EPCRS is the IRS’s comprehensive program for plan sponsors to...more