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Video: This report reveals the most common deficiencies found by Certified Public Accountants when conducting annual audits of 401(k) and 403(b) retirement plans.
Video: Point-in-time audits and certifications of employee benefit plan vendors have limited effectiveness. Due to the dynamic pace at which data security attacks occur, they do little to help track a vendor's day-to-day data security effectiveness. This video reveals the solution.
Video: Under the Consolidated Appropriations Act ("CAA") affecting qualified healthcare plans, employers are liable not only for the outcome of a critical analysis defined in the rule but also for the supervision and selection of the plan’s third-party administrator.
Video: Employers who sponsor 401(k) and 403(b) plans should expect the Department of Labor to maintain a strong focus on cybersecurity in 2025, building upon the guidance updates issued in 2024.
Video: Due to a simple misconception, the investment discipline distorts 401(k) and 403(b) retirement plan oversight risks. This video discusses how professional fiduciaries de-risk that threat.
Video: An ERISA-specific third-party risk management ("TPRM") program is invaluable for U.S. Department of Labor audits, makes a strong legal defense for plan participant disputes, safeguards operations, and protects an employer’s reputation.
Video: Annual assessments are an indispensable tool for organizations seeking to optimize their employee benefit plans. Learn what an assessment should cover.
Video: Human Resources ("HR") departments are uniquely positioned to influence employee behavior and organizational culture. By leveraging their expertise in training, communication, and policy implementation, HR can significantly contribute to an organization's cybersecurity efforts.
Webinar: This session is a must for learning the five commonly recurring categories of errors account for a staggering number of breaches of fiduciary duty with the U.S. Department of Labor and how to avoid them.
Webinar: This session is a must for learning the five commonly recurring categories of errors account for a staggering number of breaches of fiduciary duty with the U.S. Department of Labor and how to avoid them.
By appointing an independent 3(16) fiduciary, plan sponsors can delegate certain administrative duties and mitigate their own fiduciary liability..
Like professional supply chain managers who've have relied on TPRM for decades to ensure optimal vendor performance and cost-effectiveness for all kinds of products and services, fiduciary committees and HR executives are applying TPRM to their employee benefit plan programs.
The tactics used to manage employee benefit plans must change in order to adjust to the permanent changes caused by cybersecurity regulations.
Employee benefit plan committee resilience needs to be continuously emphasized due to the speed of changes in regulations and technology.
Employee benefit plan committee resilience needs to be continuously emphasized due to the speed of changes in regulations and technology.
Preparations for complying with healthcare plan fiduciary responsibilities must include a governance framework that aligns ERISA's standards of care.
Cybersecurity audits by the Department of Labor target healthcare and welfare plans and are growing in number.
Federal law imposes a duty on employers to select healthcare plan providers prudently and be sure they receive only reasonable compensation.
This article will explore the distinctions between three essential risk management approaches in cybersecurity: Vendor Risk Management, Third-Party Risk Management, and Enterprise Risk Management..
To ensure the security of employee benefit plans, organizations must adopt a strategic governance approach to cybersecurity.
Awareness of the major sources of cyber threats is essential in developing an effective cybersecurity strategy for protecting retirement, pension, health, and welfare plan (collectively employee benefit plans or “EBP”) data and assets.
When responding to a DOL cybersecurity audit, agile employer organizations maintained a library that demonstrate their compliance with cybersecurity regulations and best practices.
While AI offers exciting opportunities for optimizing benefit plan services, it also introduces inherent risks that cannot be ignored.
Due to the dynamic pace at which data security attacks occur, an audit does little to help track a vendor's day-to-day data security effectiveness.
Principled Performance is the backbone of a fiduciary management approach that enables excellence across all disciplines.
This post discusses a list of the most essential written policies for inclusion in a retirement plan's governance documents.
The 4D Framework is a watershed model for employers that, instead of relying on vendors that use vague fiduciary titles as a risk mitigation strategy, addresses the crucial implications of processes and collaboration among stakeholders in EBP management.
Stable value funds and money market funds offer retirement plan participants the lowest level of risk (and investment returns) among investment options.
Staying on top of an investment lineup's share classes is a risk management imperative for retirement and pension plan committees.
As cybersecurity threats have mounted, new strategies to ensure the safety of employee benefit plans have emerged. Serious limitations in the traditional methods used for assessing vendors' data security capabilities confront executives responsible for retirement, pension, and healthcare plans.
Preparations for complying with healthcare plan fiduciary responsibilities must include a governance framework that aligns ERISA's standards of care.
Continued monitoring of AI-enabled services begins with knowing where that technology exists in vendors’ offerings and whether it's accommodated in their data security policies and practices. This post provides ways to embrace AI in employee benefit plan cybersecurity oversight.
Continued monitoring of AI-enabled services begins with knowing where that technology exists in vendors’ offerings and whether it's accommodated in their data security policies and practices. This post provides ways to embrace AI in employee benefit plan cybersecurity oversight.
Continued monitoring of AI-enabled services begins with knowing where that technology exists in vendors’ offerings and whether it's accommodated in their data security policies and practices. This post provides ways to embrace AI in employee benefit plan cybersecurity oversight.
Continued monitoring of AI-enabled services begins with knowing where that technology exists in vendors’ offerings and whether it's accommodated in their data security policies and practices. This post provides ways to embrace AI in employee benefit plan cybersecurity oversight.
Continued monitoring of AI-enabled services begins with knowing where that technology exists in vendors’ offerings and whether it's accommodated in their data security policies and practices. This post provides ways to embrace AI in employee benefit plan cybersecurity oversight.
The Employee Retirement Income Security Act ("ERISA") contains a provision that a contract or arrangement for employee benefit plan services and the fees for those services are reasonable, the so-called "Fee Rule." Failing to comply with the rule opens the door to excessive fee lawsuits and regulatory problems.
The Employee Retirement Income Security Act ("ERISA") contains a provision that a contract or arrangement for employee benefit plan services and the fees for those services are reasonable, the so-called "Fee Rule." Failing to comply with the rule opens the door to excessive fee lawsuits and regulatory problems.
We examine the emerging importance of third-party data security risk to enterprises that sponsor retirement plans qualified under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (“ERISA”), the forces that are altering traditional approaches, and how fiduciaries should respond.
Most employers that sponsor employee benefit plans rely on service providers to advise and assist them with their duties. For this reason, selecting competent vendors is one of the most critical legal responsibilities of a plan sponsor and is loaded with risks.
The collection of suggested written employee benefit plan governance policies has been updated in light of changing best practices in governance, risk management, and compliance ("GRC").
Governance, risk management, and compliance ("GRC") is the building block for a system that aligns management of employee benefit plans with the fiduciary principles embodied in federal and state regulations.
Some cybersecurity experts think executives who head information technology departments should be added to employee benefit plan management committees.
Cybersecurity incidents affecting personally identifiable information and personal health information in employee benefit programs must be reported promptly.
With cybercriminals focusing on the data and assets of employee benefit plans, enterprises that sponsor retirement, pension, and group health plans can benefit from cyber insurance.
This post updates the scope of duties embraced by the employee benefit plan fiduciary role and presents a perspective you should consider
The type of audit an employee benefit plan vendor provides to a plan sponsor client to prove its data security quality matters greatly.
Fiduciary liability insurance is essential to a risk management strategy for employee benefit plans.
Annual audits of retirement plans won't catch errors unrelated to the plan's financial transactions, and an inaccurate Form 5500 is a regulatory problem waiting to explode.
A prominent service provider to retirement plans violated its plan sponsor clients' trust for half of a decade. Select and supervise your plan's vendors prudently.
The U.S. Congress will possibly go into limbo soon. Learn what pending retirement plan legislation might be delayed,
Executives on employee benefit plan committees rarely have a relevant academic background for the job. It takes more than intuition to serve safely in the role. Specialized raining is essential.
Human resources leaders occupy a critical stewardship role; their maturity in that position is vital to millions of workers. Discover the dimensions of stewardship and what it takes to ensure an organization is on the pathway to stewardship excellence.
Webinar: This session is a must for learning the five commonly recurring categories of errors account for a staggering number of breaches of fiduciary duty with the U.S. Department of Labor and how to avoid them.
This post updates the scope of duties embraced by the employee benefit plan fiduciary role and presents a perspective you should consider
Webinar: This session is a must for learning how to start and sustain an effective program that aligns with the U.S. Department of Labor’s cybersecurity rules.
The Employee Retirement Income Security Act ("ERISA") requires employee benefit plan ("EBP") fiduciaries to act with prudence, but ERISA does not describe activities that meet the prudence standard. How do fiduciaries know if they are prudent?
The Investment Policy Statement ("IPS") is an essential governance document for retirement plans qualified under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act. An annual examination of adherence to the IPS provisions is a vital fiduciary safeguard.
Webinar: This session is a must for learning how to start and sustain an effective program that aligns with the U.S. Department of Labor’s cybersecurity rules.
In 2022 CPAs who audit retirement plans transferred the responsibility for accuracy of plan audits to the plans' administrators requiring them to certify inputs to the audits.
Human resources leaders have the opportunity to influence excellence on a broad scale within their organizations by developing and sustaining a culture of risk awareness. But new skills and standardized methods are needed to drive change.<
Webinar: A panel of cybersecurity and fiduciary experts will inform and enlighten you.
Webinar: Ronald E. Hagan, Chairman of Roland|Criss' Risk Standards Committee, discusses the conduct expected of investment fiduciaries.
Webinar: Join Ron W. Hagan, President and Chief Operating Officer for Roland|Criss, as he interprets how fiduciary risk works and the specific effects it has on the operations of employers’ retirement plans..
Webinar: Join Ron W. Hagan, President and Chief Operating Officer for Roland|Criss, as he interprets how fiduciary risk works and the specific effects it has on the operations of employers’ retirement plans.
There is one issue that will determine an employer's risk status during the COVID-19 pandemic. It is how its finance and human resources executives manage the emerging complex fiduciary challenges.
Wild swings in the securities markets, and the dramatic economic impact of COVID-19 on workers, demands a fresh self-assessment of your retirement plan's investment oversight methods.
The COVID-19 outbreak is an extraordinary event that is extreme and complex due to its uncertainty. Few members of employee benefit plan fiduciary committees have experienced anything like it.
The DOL’s Advisory Council on Employee Welfare and Pension Benefit Plans identified seven categories of practices that should be present in a prudent data security framework.
Solutions to data security risks for employee benefit plans should be well defined in a data security policy.
Podcast: Since the Pension Protection Act of 2006 was enacted the Department of Labor has found massive procedural issues among retirement plans sponsored by non-profit organizations.
Podcast: This podcast reflects on the pre-ERISA days of 403(b) plans and examines how the shift to ERISA still challenges leaders in the higher education and healthcare sectors.
Podcast: Organizations that sponsor ERISA retirement plans have long struggled with the complexities of their vendors’ fee arrangements. The Department of Labor (“DOL”) blames much of that struggle on an information gap that divides plan managers and vendors.
Podcast: Setting up a retirement plan is hard work. Once setup, a periodic review is the most often ignored part of the entire retirement plan management process.
Podcast: This episode explores the steps needed to ensure that an organization’s risk management approach insulates it from a painful retirement plan “excessive fee” scenario.
Podcast: This episode reveals how cybersecurity intersects with ERISA fiduciary duty and the steps needed to ensure compliance.
Podcast: Pull back the curtain on the investment advice market and examine the reasons that executive level trust in vendors of those services has dropped noticeably over the last couple of years.
Podcast: Board advisor and attorney Les Sachanowicz reveals the steps that can help directors and executives eliminate risks to any enterprise.
Podcast: The failure to deposit
employees’ payroll
deferrals to their
retirement accounts is the number 1 cause of fines levied by the Department of Labor on employers that sponsor 401(k) types of
retirement plans.
Podcast: HR executives must strike a strategic balance that will sustain their budgets yet curtail the current trend in fiduciary duty failures.
Podcast: Savvy human resources managers use an approach to retirement plan operations that all but eliminates the risk of regulatory penalties.
A breakthrough digital solution called FiduciaryGRC™ automates governance, risk management, and compliance workflows. It eases the administrative burden on human resources departments.
Video: A comprehensive review of an ERISA qualified plan from Roland|Criss includes a rating that tells how well the plan is aligned with all four disciplines of fiduciary duty.
Video: ERISA fiduciary compliance is a huge undertaking, is easily misjudged, relies heavily on manual labor, and in most cases is undermined by a lack of documentation. Making use of an automated process for fiduciary duty can reduce costs for an ERISA plan and its corporate sponsor.
Video: Examine an outline of the basics of ERISA fiduciary duty.
This short video describes an automated governance, risk management, and compliance solution tailored to the ERISA qualified plan community.
Class action lawsuits and plan audits conducted by the U.S. government reveal that fees paid by many plans to their vendors are excessive. (Federal law makes plan sponsors not the vendors accountable.) According to the Department of Labor, the factors that cause excessive fees may be present in nearly every retirement plan.
A new focus on conflicts of interest stimulated by the U.S. Department of Labor's proposed Investment Fiduciary Advice: Conflict of Interest Rule has major implications for all ERISA plans.
Learn about how intensified audit procedures affect the retirement plan industry by listening to the 3 minute audio briefing available on this page.
Video: Human resources managers are hampered by the lack of a regulatory standard for fiduciary best practices. But that doesn't mean that a reliable framework of compliance ready guidelines doesn't exist.
Widespread conflicts of interest and overpricing by many investment firms that serve 401(k) and 403(b) plans have been uncovered by the U.S. Department of Labor ("DOL"). Many executives that manage those types of plans are understandably concerned. Maybe you are, too.
The DOL is investigating how benefit plan committees are managing fiduciary service provider compensation and conflicts of interest in relation to plan asset vehicles.
An operations assessment is an evaluation of an employee benefit plan’s conformance to fiduciary rules.
The evidence is mounting. Thousands of participants in ERISA retirement plans are overpaying for plan services.
There are two prevalent design approaches on which RRMs are constructed. We call them "Features Focused" and "Results Focused." The former takes a passive approach, while the latter is a prudent proactive approach.
Many enterprises that sponsor retirement plans have learned the hard way that the U.S. Department of Labor is serious about enforcing ERISA's principle for monitoring their plans' vendors.
Since the Pension Protection Act of 2006 was enacted the Department of Labor has found massive procedural issues among retirement plans sponsored by non-profit organizations…the so-called 403(b) plans. How did that happen? Listen to the 17 minute podcast
The legal responsibilities of retirement plan fiduciaries constantly change. How do elite retirement plan executives meet the challenge of change? Roland|Criss reveals what plan sponsors should change in the way they oversee their retirement plans in 2015. Listen to the 17 minute podcast
Experts from the retirement plan sponsor community explore the changing landscape as it relates to healthcare, including healthcare trends’ impact on leaders and strategic area managers, financial and regulatory implications, and defining the pathway for the future. Listen to the 15 minute podcast
Experts from the retirement plan sponsor community reveal key insights into the duties and accountabilities of the “responsible plan fiduciary. Hear how the focus on skill requirements is changing for plan sponsors. Listen to the 13 minute podcast
Retirement plan sponsors are introduced to the U.S. Department of Labor’s supply chain management concept. This podcast describes how the fiduciary supply chain parallels current corporate practices…why new skills are needed…who is involved…and what those roles entail. Listen to the 18 minute podcast
Retirement plan audits have long been a routine task for ERISA qualified plans with over 100 participants, but recent industry developments are causing concern for plan sponsors. Guests from McConnell & Jones, one of the largest and most prominent accounting firms in Houston, Texas share insights on Department of Labor findings that those responsible for […]
Produced for the Nonprofit Executive Leadership Forum, this podcast provides a historical reflection of the pre-ERISA days of 403(b) plan management. Our guest expert examines how that history is contributing to the challenges currently facing the administrative teams and executive leadership who bear ERISA’s compliance responsibility. Our guest speaker, Ron W. Hagan, is President and […]
The new ERISA Conflict of Interest rule specifically targets IRA rollovers from retirement plans. The rule makes the recommendation of a distribution of a plan participant’s money to an IRA (a rollover) a fiduciary act. The potential impact requires proper planning by retirement plan fiduciary committees. A description of the IRA rollover challenge presented to […]
Outsourcing ERISA retirement plan services has been around for decades, but recent industry developments have translated into new strategies for plan sponsors. The chairman of Roland|Criss’ Fiduciary Standards Committee discusses key trends every CFO and human resource executive should be aware of in 2015. Listen to the 16 minute podcast
An article published last week by Employee Benefit News titled, “Which type of fiduciary should plan sponsors hire?” compares the differing responsibilities of 3(16), 3(21), and 3(38) fiduciary providers. In short, the roles broke down as follows: 3(16) – Plan administrator (full scope fiduciary has discretion over plan policies and procedures) 3(21) – Investment advisor […]
Computerizing Fiduciary Controls is a New Business Reality for ERISA Plans Recent changes to ERISA make compliance with its fiduciary rules more challenging than at any time since its introduction in 1974. Many organizations that sponsor ERISA plans lack the needed controls and most do not have the means to document their compliance with ERISA’s […]
We’ve studied the effect that adoption of a regulatory risk management (“RRM”) system has on enterprises that sponsor ERISA plans. Simply, the best fiduciary risk management designs originate backward from the outcomes sought.
If you're a member of a retirement plan committee, you could be responsible for a breach in your employer's ERISA fiduciary duty even if it occurred before you were assigned to serve on the committee.
Operational assessments improve employee benefit plans and cut fiduciary risk
Manufacturing, higher education, and healthcare are just a few of the industry sectors that have to comply with fiduciary rules. That makes a check up on your plan's operations an imperative. When assigned by their employers to the role of fiduciary, many executives admit that their agendas continue to be influenced by financial and operational risks that desensitize them about what it takes to control their fiduciary risks.
The U.S. Department of Labor ("DOL") developed cybersecurity guidelines for plan fiduciaries that form the basis for its plan audits. It's likely that the DOL's guidelines will add to the foundation on which data security related class action lawsuits are litigated.<
Hundreds of ERISA plan assessments, which span several industries, reveal six major payroll deficiencies that trigger fiduciary duty violations. Learn what they are and how to detect them.
The Vice President of Human Resources for Conagra Brands, Inc. is a named defendant in a pending lawsuit claiming that the 401k) plan's administrative rules were violated. If the VP is found to be responsible for such violations, restoration of any financial losses to the plan could be required from the Vice President's personal assets.
A large employer recently fended off a lawsuit that accused it of violating various fiduciary responsibilities under ERISA. The defense employed by the employer is a template for risk management excellence.
Many enterprises that sponsor retirement plans have learned the hard way that the U.S. Department of Labor is serious about enforcing ERISA's principle for monitoring their plans' vendors.
Admittedly, it seems unfair of ERISA to introduce such a vital compliance mandate without also publishing guidelines on how monitoring should be conducted. But that's the state in which plan fiduciaries find themselves.
The demise of the confusing Investment Fiduciary Advice Rule has allowed the U.S. Department of Labor ("DOL") to focus on other enforcement priorities.
That's good news for human resources executives and risk managers because those areas of focus are far more clear.
Among the DOL's published priorities is the "Plan Investment Conflicts" project. The DOL is investigating how benefit plan committees are managing fiduciary service provider compensation and conflicts of interest in relation to plan asset vehicles.
A crisis among retirement plan sponsoring enterprises is unfolding. The challenge facing their leaders is to ensure that operations managers are equipped with the training, guidelines, controls, and tools that elevate fiduciary risk management to its proper priority.
It seems so simple, yet the U.S. Department of Labor ("DOL") fines multitudes of enterprises every year for their failure to perform a basic task. Three tips describe how to avoid the risk.
Last week's legal bombshell will scramble human resources strategies for every college and university that sponsors a qualified retirement plan. A second lawsuit against Duke University in connection with a complaint filed in August 2016 alleging its breach of fiduciary duty, will have many CFOs and compliance managers taking a fresh look at their situation.
Human resources managers are hampered by the lack of a regulatory standard for fiduciary best practices. But that doesn't mean that a reliable framework of compliance ready guidelines doesn't exist. Professional fiduciary procedures have emerged that are accepted as being correct.
Roland|Criss is an authentic independent retirement plan administrator under section 3(16) of the Employee Retirement Income Act ("ERISA").
Many investment service providers represent themselves to be genuine, devoted partners to retirement plan sponsors – from their brands, to their marketing presentations, to their detailed, regular updates to clients.
By all accounts, it appears that these vendors’ efforts are focused on helping their clients’ retirement plans to be successful. Unfortunately, while corporate fiduciaries may interpret that investment vendors are acting in their employer’s best interest, some vendors are authentic in one thing, and one thing only: their desire to be profitable.
Corporate fiduciaries who avoid even a superficial review of vendors' conflicts of interest subject themselves and their personal assets to great risk under federal pension law.
The esoteric nature of fiduciary laws and regulations provides investment service providers with a distinct advantage when selling their services to corporate or nonprofit fiduciary committees.
It's hard to imagine that a commanding general would try to guide an army without a battle plan. It's equally unimaginable that a quarterback of a football team would not communicate with teammates on the field. In a similar fashion, any organization that sponsors a regulated retirement plan needs a blueprint for compliance and a system for governing the plan that integrates with its overall business risk strategy.
401(k) and 403(b)-like retirement plans face the possibility of serious trouble when plan participants rollover their account balances to individual retirement accounts ("IRA"). Your fiduciary management system needs to embrace IRA transactions.
Recent lawsuits against higher education institutions ("HEI") raise questions that every organization sponsoring a qualified retirement plan should be ready to answer. A timely opportunity exists for leaders in both the 403(b) plan and 401(k) plan sectors to examine some of these “hidden issues” to consider whether an upgrade of their risk management systems is warranted.
The Department of Labor ("DOL") assesses significant penalties for an improperly filed Form 5500. Mistakes on an ERISA plan's Form 5500 create a nice target for the Internal Revenue Service's auditors, too.
While the number of filing deficiencies are frequent among smaller plans (i. e., plans with fewer than 100 participants), which aren't required to have an annual CPA's independent financial audit, the DOL is concerned about the increasing number of deficiencies it sees for plans that receive a CPA's annual financial audit.
Until now, a retirement plan participant's transfer or rollover of their account balance to an individual retirement account ("IRA") was, for the most part, off the grid of plan sponsors' fiduciary management systems because IRAs were not under the jurisdiction of the U.S. Department of Labor.
Due to the new Conflict of Interest rule, however, IRA rollovers will require a great deal more care and oversight by plan sponsors than before.
A recent study performed by the DOL found that a startling number of employee benefit plan audits were deficient. The DOL study also found that there was a "clear link between the number of employee benefit plan audits performed by a CPA and the quality of the audit work performed."
The DOL found that 33% of audit reports reviewed failed to comply with one or more of ERISA's reporting and disclosure requirements. It believes that this error rate is at an unacceptably high level.
Corporate risk tied to employee benefit plans is escalating, refocusing the pursuit of excellence from program features to risk management. Many businesses and nonprofit organizations are changing their risk management systems in an attempt to meet these increasing risks head-on.
Broad in its reach, short on implementation specifics, and bristling with teeth, ramped up enforcement of fiduciary duty under ERISA has sent CFOs and HR executives scrambling to get a handle on how to ensure their organizations' compliant oversight of retirement plans.
As 401(k) and 403(b) type retirement plans mature, the need for internal controls for managing fiduciary practices grows, too. According to Department of Labor reports, those controls are sorely lacking in most plans.
There are 5 key reasons that internal controls for fiduciary governance lag far behind other corporate risk categories. Computer technology offers a convenient permanent solution.
Widespread conflicts of interest and overpricing by many investment firms that serve 401(k) and 403(b) plans have been uncovered by the U.S. Department of Labor ("DOL"). Many executives that manage those types of plans are understandably concerned. Maybe you are, too.
The DOL's Conflict of Interest; Investment Advice Rule attacks the practices of investment advisors and investment program providers who conceal their conflicts of interest that result in excessive fees for participants in ERISA qualified retirement plans.
The executives who make procurement decisions for their organization's retirement plans, and who are responsible for negotiating the best arrangements with their vendors, are typically experts in the field of finance or human resources. Because of this, often times, these employee benefit plan sponsors do not speak their retirement plan vendors' esoteric language.
Savvy vendors have capitalized on technical jargon to manufacture an "information gap." The same language challenge faces buyers of every category of goods and services that businesses and nonprofits purchase with one major difference...those buyers have specialized training.
The U.S. Department of Labor’s (“DOL”) change in the definition of an investment fiduciary has ushered in a dramatic shift in risk management focus for chief financial officers and human resource executives. This article explores how the “old school” way of interacting with investment advice providers has been jolted by a new imperative.
The federal government issues new rules and changes existing rules at a dizzying pace. It would not be surprising to hear executives ask “so what” when they hear about the new Conflict of Interest Rule that targets 401(k) type retirement plans.
A published set of uniformly enforced guidelines and specifications is the essential trait of a standard. Examples of published standards abound in many fields including technology, manufacturing, and healthcare. There is a good reason that CFOs and human resource executives are challenged to know how to comply with the fiduciary standard. 
ERISA retirement plan sponsors are in the midst of dramatic changes in the Department of Labor's fiduciary rules.
This podcast looks deeply into the causes of the regulatory shifts. Experts in ERISA governance, risk management, and compliance ("GRC") procedures offer guidance on how CFOs and human resources executives should respond. Special attention is focused on the dramatic new conflict of interest rule. 
Computerizing Fiduciary Controls is a New Business Reality for ERISA Plans
Recent changes to ERISA make compliance with its fiduciary rules more challenging than at any time since its introduction in 1974. Many organizations that sponsor ERISA plans lack the needed controls and most do not have the means to document their compliance with ERISA's fiduciary standards of care. Computerization of the fiduciary function is now essential to maintaining employee confidence and avoiding penalties. CFOs and human resource executives grow their skills at the Executive Leadership Forum.
Out of necessity, a fiduciary's performance of their duty will drive interactions with vendors of investment advice and administration services. Those interactions all have the potential to create real or perceived conflicts of interest with the trinity of ERISA fiduciary responsibility...independence, loyalty, and exclusive purpose.
Organizations that sponsor ERISA retirement plans have long struggled with the complexities of their vendors' fee arrangements. The Department of Labor ("DOL") blames much of that struggle on an information gap that divides plan managers and vendors.
Have you ever been so thirsty on a steamy August day that you drank from a garden hose? Yes, I must admit that I have. I remember falling for this hydration method as a teenager in the midst of my lawn mowing days. It seemed like a good idea at the time, with the temperatures well into the 100s and my mouth feeling as dry as a cotton ball. But after gulping endless amounts of water, my body was unable to process the h2o quickly enough, which led to the worst stomach cramp in the history of stomach cramps. "Where am I going with this?” you may ask. 
As I sit here reviewing an investment advisory agreement this morning on behalf of one of our ERISA 3(16) clients, I am reminded of the weight of a client’s duties – not just under ERISA – but under the obligations of the many vendor agreements they will sign on behalf of their company’s qualified retirement plan. 
When faced with such a question, few plan sponsors - and the executives appointed to be Plan Administrators - seem able to answer it with any confidence. As fiduciary consultants we often find that those who feel positive about their status are likely to overestimate their level of protection. Many Plan Administrators operate unaware of what truly creates risk within their plan dynamics. 
In my work with retirement plan administrators and investment advisors, I often consider what is happening in the food industry across the United States. There is a shift occurring in the food industry. Consumers are realizing that the benefits of "mass production" come at a price.The CONSUMER is now taking BACK control of the conversation and the market has been forced to respond. The same can be said for the qualified plan market. Most qualified plans go unmonitored - much like the diet of the typical U.S. citizen. My dream for the qualified plan market is that it goes organic. 
A great article appeared today in BenefitsLink called Retirement Plans Often Rife with Conflicts of Interest. In it, the author, Johnathan Broadbent, expresses consternation about the increasingly complex responsibilities of the retirement plan sponsor amidst the murky waters of conflicted arrangements. This issue is under constant consideration at Roland|Criss and it resonated deeply with us. 
Retirement plan sponsors have been hit by vendors with a wave of sales activity for so-called "3(16) services." The benefits of using a professional firm to which the legal duty of the Plan Administrator role (that's the 3(16) fiduciary) is transferred, are very appealing. Savvy vendors have jumped on the chance to sell a new thing, however, and are pushing hard on a not so new concept. Hidden behind a veil of authenticity, most vendors' programs are anything but authentic. This short video blog tells more. 
An article published last week by Employee Benefit News titled, “Which type of fiduciary should plan sponsors hire?” compares the differing responsibilities of 3(16), 3(21), and 3(38) fiduciary providers. 
The retirement plan industry ebbs and flows with trends. In recent years, the ramp-up of services to “alleviate” the fiduciary burden on plan sponsors has burgeoned, with the majority of the offerings coming in the form of investment advisory and investment management functions. The headlines are ablaze once again with a rapidly developing ERISA Section 3(16) plan administrator service model. As the industry’s service providers over the years have proven to be quick to adapt and broaden service deliverables, a decisive factor must be considered: What risks do these newfangled “fiduciaries” bring to their plan sponsor clients? 
An InvestmentNews article published this week was titled, “New flavor of outsourced fiduciary for retirement plans hits the market.” In it, the author introduces the “newest offering of fiduciary duty under Section 3(16)” of ERISA – the 3(16) plan administrator. But wait. Hasn’t the independent 3(16) plan administrator role been around for decades? 
For Fidelity Investments, the reversing of Tussey v. ABB (in which Fidelity was originally accused of excessive 401(k) fees) is undeniably a win in the short term for Fidelity. But what has this landmark case taught us about the Department of Labor’s interpretation and enforcement of the most recent fee disclosure rules?
There are two primary takeaways from what experts are calling the “biggest 401(k) case in decades.”
Talking Points About the 3(16) Role: Key Facts You Want to Know
With the ever-changing responsibilities of the retirement plan management role (including those associated with the most recent fee disclosure rules), plan sponsors and their advisors have been asking:
“How might a 3(16) Plan Administrator lessen our fiduciary liability and administrative burden?”
“How does a 3(16) fit within our existing retirement plan supply chain of vendors?”
With increased regulatory pressure from the Department of Labor, and seemingly ever-growing responsibilities for retirement plan sponsors, it’s no wonder that “turnkey” fiduciary solutions are popping up everywhere.
But what risks do these newfangled “fiduciaries” bring to their plan sponsor clients?
In President Barack Obama’s State of the Union Address on Tuesday night, he introduced a proposed “MyRA” retirement savings account that would invest in government bonds, providing a “starter plan” for workers who do not have access to a 401(k) plan. Once workers’ “MyRA” plans reached the maximum balance of $15,000, the money would have to be rolled over into a private-sector Roth IRA.
While the idea of providing easier ways to save for lower- and middle-income workers is a noble one, we can’t help but draw some worrisome similarities between the structure of this new plan, and the complexities that have caused scandal across our financial and retirement plan markets in recent years.
The key questions we have at this stage of the “MyRA” proposal, and that we’d like to investigate further, include: The Charitable Trust Leadership Forum, which is sponsored by Roland|Criss, will convene in December in order to consolidate members’ comments on the need for updates to the Fiduciary Standard for Endowments and Foundations.
Last week, a blog post entitled, “Are 3(16) Plan Administrator Arrangements a Sham?” delineated the difference between a selective 3(16) service provider (who absorbs only a small amount of plan sponsor responsibility) and a full-service 3(16) provider (who agrees to be the named fiduciary for the plan).
The full-service 3(16) plan administrator was termed “the gold standard” for plan sponsors who seek to significantly reduce their fiduciary liability and outsource the majority of their plan responsibilities.
So, you’ve found a full-service 3(16) plan administrator who submits themselves to annual monitoring and states their fiduciary liability in their contract.
Have you struck gold?
Not so fast. 
Listen in on Blog Talk Radio as Ronald Hagan, President and CEO of Roland|Criss chats with The 401k Study Group about the ins and outs of being a 3(16) Fiduciary. 
The DOL’s pace of enforcement has produced staggering numbers. For example, in fiscal year 2011, the Employee Benefits Security Administration (“EBSA”), which is the enforcement arm of the DOL, collected over $1.3 billion in fines and asset recovery from ERISA qualified Plan Sponsors. More than 74% of its audits produced economic penalties for the plans it audited. 
Settlement of the Beesley v. International Papers fiduciary lawsuit cracks the foundation of the 401(k) industry's primary pricing structure. Embedded within the $30 million settlement is an agreement by the plan's sponsor that it will not pay fees to a recordkeeper based on a percentage of the plan's assets. What are the implications for plan sponsors? 
The DOL’s pace of enforcement has produced staggering numbers. For example, in fiscal year 2011, the Employee Benefits Security Administration (“EBSA”), which is the enforcement arm of the DOL, collected over $1.3 billion in fines and asset recovery from ERISA qualified Plan Sponsors. More than 74% of its audits produced economic penalties for the plans it audited. What is the DOL trying to say? 
