随着一项针对大多数员工福利计划的新审计准则于今年生效, individuals charged with managing and administering plans should be aware of their responsibilities as plan fiduciaries.
会计准则声明(SAS) 136 Forming an Opinion and Reporting on Financial 状态ments of Employee Benefit Plans Subject to ERISA该规定于今年生效，适用于日历年底的计划. The new standard is intended to bring clarity to the responsibilities of both plan sponsors and auditors, 并以更透明的方式传达这些信息.
SAS 136还加强了对员工福利计划的一般监督的指导, affirming the message that plan sponsors and plan auditors have one central responsibility: to protect the interests of plan participants. Safeguarding the money that participants contribute to their retirement plans and ensuring the plan is operating in compliance with regulations and plan provisions is of primary importance.
这意味着, in part, that plan sponsors should not take lightly their roles as plan fiduciaries.
受托人的角色
根据1974年雇员退休收入保障法(ERISA), ERISA受托人是对计划或资产行使自由裁量权的任何人, 或者为计划或计划参与者提供投资建议的人.
在大公司里, 受托人的角色可能由几个监管人员共同承担, 管理和/或服务于内部员工福利计划委员会. 在规模较小的公司中，受托人的角色可能只落在一个人身上.
不管为一个计划服务的受托人有多少, 法律上和道德上, 受托人的角色有两大责任:忠诚的义务和注意的义务.
忠诚义务
忠诚义务要求受托人以计划参与者的最佳利益行事. 这意味着, 除此之外, they can’t just consider what may benefit a select group of employees in their decision-making, 不可能有什么私心交易.
例如:受托人有一个家庭成员是投资顾问, and the fiduciary selects that relative as the investment advisor for the company’s 401(k) plan. This involves accepting a higher fee share class of investments to allow the family member to earn more commission on the investment. This would be a violation of fiduciary duty since the action would be to directly benefit the fiduciary’s relative but would disadvantage plan participants because of the knowingly higher fees.
同样的, a company owner who secures more favorable banking terms for the company because the 401(k) plan assets are transferred to the custody of the bank would not be embracing a duty of loyalty as a fiduciary.
任何允许自我交易的事情, preferring the interests of a third party (including the plan sponsor) over those of the participants, 或者是故意误导参与者, 是否被视为违反受托责任和忠诚义务.
注意义务
The second area of responsibility – the duty of care – speaks to the acceptance of responsibility for managing and guiding the employee benefit plan. 简而言之，这意味着不推卸责任.
一个很好的例子是雇用外部服务提供者来帮助管理计划, 例如第三方管理员(tpa), 记录保管人. 一些计划发起人认为，一旦他们雇佣了这些供应商，他们就完了. 但你的责任不止于此. 你必须确保提供者是有信誉的, 遵守各项规章制度, follows the rules of your contract and charges fees that are appropriate to the services provided.
Duty of care also means understanding all facets of the plan and making sure things that should be happening with the plan are happening, 例如监管备案和参与者的供款及时存入, 除此之外.
Understanding and abiding by the plan documents is a critical part of a fiduciary’s responsibility. 这很有挑战性. If a plan participant confides that he’s having trouble paying his mortgage and wants to withdraw money from his 401(k) plan, 但他没有发生可分配事件, 按照计划指导方针, 无论你多么想帮忙，分发都不可能完成.
This example points to another key role of the fiduciary – to constantly monitor the changing needs of the organization’s workforce and consider necessary changes in benefits and rules that will make the plan more responsive to participants. 一般, 由法律规定, 每隔几年，所有的计划都必须重述一次,; however, 在此期间, plans may be amended as plan sponsors add new features or adopt changes resulting from regulatory updates.
受托人需要监控的一个关键领域是外部提供商收取的费用. Fees have long been controversial in the employee benefit plan arena because they are often difficult to ascertain. 在一个计划中，有些费用是从收益中扣除的，因此很难计算. Having an outside independent party provide a fee benchmarking report every few years can help ensure you are executing your fiduciary duty in this area.
回到SAS 136
Employee benefit plan audits and reporting will be significantly different this year as SAS 136 takes effect.
与管理层和负责治理的人员的沟通将更加重要, 审计报告将更加全面和明确.
Perhaps most notably for organizations that typically engage auditors to perform a “limited scope” audit, 审计人员将不再对财务报表发表免责声明, 由于他们在这种审计下放弃了与投资有关的测试. 而不是, they will provide a two-pronged opinion clearly stating that the financial statements are presented fairly and that limiting the investment-related testing has been the proper assessment by management.
一般而言，根据《比较靠谱的赌博软件》编制的审计报告应清楚:
- 解释管理层在财务报表方面的职责.
- Disclose the auditor’s responsibilities with respect to the audit and the supplemental schedules.
- Whether for ERISA Section 103(a)(3)(C) audits (formerly known as “limited scope” audits) or a non-103 audit (formerly known as a full scope audit), 说明审计的性质和范围.
对于计划发起人, the certification required from a plan custodian to perform limited audit procedures historically was obtained by the auditors, 然后与计划发起人合作, the determination was made that they were eligible to have this “limited scope” type of plan audit conducted. SAS 136, this certification must be obtained by the plan sponsor and be accompanied by an assessment made by management that the plan is eligible for a 103(a)(3)(C) audit. This is part of the goal under SAS 136 of clearly delineating the responsibilities of plan sponsors. It places responsibility on management to take the initiative and to demonstrate the greater role in the process, 因为它们承担这一责任的文件现在必须是书面的.
从本质上讲，SAS 136的目的是不让任何机会出现. It shines light on many parts of the employee benefit plan audit process that have been murky in the past. 对于计划发起人 and company management – those who are charged with fiduciary duty – the best course of action is to look for service providers who will help you navigate the plan, 规章制度和员工不断变化的需求.
If you would like to start a conversation about complying with the new audit and reporting standard for employee benefit plans, 联系你的意图顾问.
By Darlene Finzer，注册会计师，CSA, QKA (新费城办事处)