The U.S. Department of Labor’s (DOL’s) Employee Benefits Security Administration issued Interpretive Bulletin (IB) 2022-01 on Sept. 6, updating its guidance on the independence requirement for accountants who audit employee benefits plans under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA). IB 2022-01 took effect immediately on its publication in the Federal Register.
The DOL had issued an IB in 1975 that set forth guidelines for determining when a qualified public accountant is independent for purposes of auditing and rendering an opinion on the financial statements required in a benefits plan’s Form 5500 annual filing. IB 2022-01 revises and restates the earlier guidance to remove certain outdated and unnecessarily restrictive provisions and to reorganize other provisions for clarity, the DOL said.
