Section 512 of ERISA provides for the very establishment of an Advisory Council on Worker Welfare and Pension Benefit programs, known as the ERISA Council.

The responsibilities of the council are to advise the Secretary of Labor on issues important to the administration of ERISA and submit recommendations concerning the Secretary's purposes under ERISA. To know about benefit administration firm you can search the websites of companies online.

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The Council is composed of 15 members appointed by the Secretary of Labor and includes representatives of employee organizations, companies, the general public, and the accounting profession. Usually, the Council focuses on a few issues every year.

For each problem, the Council determines the issue to research, takes testimony from eyewitnesses, and submits a summary of findings and recommendations to the Secretary of Labor.

What does this research include?

According to the Issue Paper for this project, the Council's objective is to make recommendations to the Secretary of Labor concerning ERISA's audit and business reporting elements; the desired result is to enhance the Department of Labor's supervision of employee benefit plan audits. The Council intends to examine the following:

The AICPA testimony focused on the key areas as follows: the limited scope audit exemption, 403(b) plan summarizing and audit obligations, and health and welfare program reporting and audit requirements.

Limited Scope Audit Privilege ERISA's limited scope audit release allows the plan manager to instruct the independent auditor to not perform any auditing procedures related to investment data prepared and certified by a professional institution that serves as trustee or manager of plan investments or their broker.