Risk Assessment of Employee Benefit Plans (Currently Unavailable)

Author: Alan Anderson

When the new risk-based audit standards were introduced the profession apparently concluded that audit risk was a new concept. As a result, firms over-implemented those new standards, adding significant time to employee benefit plan audit practice. In many cases all this extra time was perceived to have little or no benefit. This session will work to remove the mystery from risk assessment and gain practical tips to effectively apply them to employee benefit plan audits. Discover how to maximize your audit efficiency while still maintaining or improving the quality of your EBP audits.

Publication Date: May 2016

Designed For
CPAs and auditors in public practice.

Topics Covered

• The auditor's dilemma and the DOL
• Key Characteristics of employee benefit plan audit clients
• Rethink the risk assessment process
• Internal controls, including information technology controls
• When and how much to document

Learning Objectives

• Apply the risk assessment standards to employee benefit plan audit clients
• Maximize audit efficiency while maintaining or improving the quality of your audits
• Identify how to effectively and efficiently consider risk assessment on employee benefit plan audits
• Recognize three key audit planning questions with the purpose of risk assessment
• Identify Pervasive Risk that should be considered at the financial statement level
• Differentiate the Do's at an engagement team discussion
• Describe standards of Internal Controls
• Identify requirement steps for SOC reports
• Recognize the characteristics and focus of typical EBP audits
• Identify reasons why the Department of Labor requires employee benefit plan administrators to hire independent qualified public acocuntants
• Differentiate key audit planning questions in attempting to determine NET
• Describe the Top Down Approach to auditing Employee Benefit Plans
• Identify potential risks at the assertion level
• Differentiate the Top Down Audit Flows describing the risk at the Plan Financial Statement level
• Identify which approach a firm should use to efficiently complete internal control evaluations
• Describe key initiatives that should be applied for the effectiveness and efficiency of a firm audit

Level
Basic

Instructional Method
Self-Study

NASBA Field of Study
Auditing (2 hours)

Program Prerequisites
None

Advance Preparation
None