How to Survive a Pension Plan Audit

Generally, if your law firm sponsored pension plan (defined contribution plan or defined benefit plan) has more than 100 eligible participants, it must be audited by a qualified independent certified public accounting (“CPA”) firm on an annual basis. But even if your firm does not have greater than 100 eligible participants, your plan could be selected for an audit directly by the Internal Revenue Service (“IRS”) or the Department of Labor (“DOL”). How would you survive an audit by your CPA firm, the IRS or the DOL? Read on for key information on the most frequent problems found with pension plans during employee benefit plan audits, and how you can self-audit your plan for possible compliance issues and options you have to correct them.