Types of Reports:

Generally, ERISA Consultants offers four types of reports:

Annual Administrative Report - The complete plan year end report inclusive of a full reconciliation of all plan investments for the plan year, finalized year end contribution allocations and compliance testing as well as preparation of the annual government filings required for the plan.  An participants statement reflecting benefits on an accrued basis and their current vested percentage will be provided with this report - as required by the regulations.

Interim Valuation Report - A report prepared in the middle of the plan year on a quarterly or semi-annual basis. These reports include a complete reconciliation of plan investments, reporting on contributions accrued to date and projected testing analysis.  These reports also include an accrued participant statement reflecting any vesting updates.  

Interim Testing Report - These reports may be prepared in the middle of the plan year on a pre-determined schedule (i.e. quarterly or semi-annual basis) or may be requested on an as needed basis.  The primary purpose of these reports is to provide projected testing analysis.  This does not include a trust reconciliation or preparation of participant statements.

Limited Service - ERISA may also be engaged to provide a report of limited scope.  For example, we may only be engaged to perform year end compliance testing and preparation of the annual government filing forms.

How the process works:

Regardless of the type of report required, the process starts with our sending you a Data Request Package.  These are normally sent out a couple weeks prior to the report date (i.e. Data Request Packages for a 12/31 report are usually mailed to client in early to mid December).

This package must be completed, signed and returned to our office before the plan is "placed on the assembly line" for processing (regardless of the amount of data we may already have on file).  Our errors and omissions insurance carrier requires that we be in possession of the completed and signed package prior to releasing any information relative to that report.

Upon receipt by ERISA, the package and your file data will be reviewed by your plan consultant for completeness.  If the need for additional information is evident upon our initial review, we make our best effort to contact you within ten days.  It is important to understand that the consultant may need to begin working on the plan in depth before he/she can determine that additional information is required.

You will generally receive your report within thirty days following receipt of the last significant piece of information.  Reports for plans that are more complicated may take longer to prepare.

Important Notes and Tips:

	We must rely on the information provided to us.  Accurate and complete data is crucial for purposes of preparing a viable report and calculating participant benefits as well as our ability to keep your plan in compliance with the regulations.
	We strongly encourage our clients, whenever possible, to provide data in Excel format.  Minimizing the "handling of data" not only reduces errors but also the amount of time necessary to get your data into our system.  For these reasons, clients may be charged for the manual input of data which takes more than ten minutes to complete.
	We recommend that clients have their investment broker arrange for a duplicate copy of the investment statements to be sent directly to ERISA Consultants.  In addition, you may wish to send us duplicate copies of any pertinent worksheets prepared during the year (i.e. your monthly 401(k) contribution worksheet and transmittal).  This will prevent you and/or your broker from having the "dig" for information at year end.
	The data necessary for purposes of a contribution calculation should be sent as early as possible prior to your tax filing deadline if you will be relying on ERISA Consultants to provide a contribution figure for purposes of the return.  In many cases, a contribution calculation can be performed rather quickly (within a couple of hours).  However, we receive a "rush" of these requests just prior to March 15th and April 15th.  We may be unable to fulfill all of these requests simply due to the volume.  It is also important to note that, if your plan uses forfeitures as a credit against your deductible contribution, we will unable to determine the actual amount of deductible contribution until there has been a full reconciliation of trust assets.
	A 401(k) that fails the ADP/ACP discrimination testing must return the contributions causing the violation within two and half months following the close of the plan year (March 15th for calendar year plans).  It is important that we receive all census and contribution data as soon as possible following the year end if your plan is in any jeopardy of failing these discrimination tests.