Auditing

The U.S. Department of Labor’s (DOL) Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA) is considering whether to amend guidance the DOL issued in 1975—Interpretive Bulletin 75-9—on evaluating the independence of auditors retained by employee benefit plans under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA). EBSA seeks comments from the public by December 11, 2006 ( www.regulations.gov ; docket ID EBSA-2006-0043), on whether the bulletin provides adequate guidance for plan administrators, other plan fiduciaries, participants, beneficiaries, accountants and other affected parties on determining when a qualified public accountant is independent. To help CPAs understand the more common independence rules affecting ERISA audits, the AICPA Employee Benefit Plan Audit Quality Center has prepared a comparison of the current DOL and AICPA rules ( http://ebpaqc.aicpa.org/resources/independence ).