Firms can now audit a much broader group of employee benefit plans including 401(k), 403(b), defined benefit, and health and welfare plans
Caseware, the American Institute of CPAs (AICPA) and CPA.com, have released an updated version of OnPoint EBP, a cloud audit engagement solution designed to facilitate the efficient and effective performance of audits of employee benefit plans including 401(k), 403(b), defined benefit, and health and welfare benefit plans.
Powered by the Caseware cloud platform, OnPoint EBP helps firms perform audits of employee benefit plans subject to the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA). It combines AICPA-developed methodology, engagement management, analytics and advanced client collaboration tools within a single application.
“We initially launched OnPoint EBP in 2020 to support limited scope audits of 401(k) plans as technology and evolving standards transform the way audits are conducted,” said Erik Asgeirsson, CEO, CPA.com. “We believe that by equipping auditors with the best tools, we can help facilitate greater quality and provide better insights during their engagements. With this latest release of OnPoint EBP, we are enabling auditors to support a much broader scope of plan types within a single modern solution.”
The solution’s potential impact can be significant as there are close to 87,000 employee benefit plan audits conducted annually in the United States by more than 4,300 CPA firms.
“When auditing employee benefit plans, traditional practice aids can lead to a fair amount of redundant data entry, under or over-auditing and poor documentation requiring extra work to ensure the audit complies with professional and regulatory requirements,” said Scott Epstein, Chief Product Officer at Caseware. “OnPoint EBP offers an integrated, guided methodology that leverages cloud-based technology to produce a dynamic, efficient workflow.”
The latest release of OnPoint EBP includes the following new features:
- Expanded scope to facilitate audits of 403(b) plans, defined benefit plans, and health and welfare plans
- Revised financial reporting risk assumptions to better align with inherent risk factors
- New presentation and disclosure checklist tailored for the various types of employee benefit plans
Illinois-based firm JMM CPA specializes in employee benefit plan audits and values how the OnPoint EBP solution helps to streamline workflows and create efficiencies in the audit process. “With the expanded scope of OnPoint EBP, our firm can now audit more types of benefit plans in an efficient manner,” said founder James Moyna. “The intelligent file build and reporting functionality based on the plan profile ensures that our auditors get a detailed understanding of the type of plan being audited. The software tailors the audit workflow based on the Plan specifics. This helps us plan the engagement and move to fieldwork with a strong understanding of the audit to be performed.”
