Latest News

Build your skills at the OSCPA Employee Benefit Plan Audit Conference

Written on Mar 6, 2025

As a former Big 4 auditor, Peter Zender, CPA, now an A&A and technology trainer for Galasso Learning Solutions LLC, has seen a few things, and his goal is to help other CPAs identify how they can make their employee benefit plan audits go more smoothly. 

Zender will be presenting at the OSCPA’s 2025 Employee Benefit Plan Audit Conference on April 22.  

During his session, Peer Review Update for Employee Benefit Plan Audits, Zender plans to discuss how technology plays a role in an EBP audit. “We want to ask if we’re monitoring and reviewing in the right way,” he said.  

While the breakout session will be great for those newer to the EBP audit, Zender said it’s actually very important for experienced EBP auditors to attend, as well. “We can get in a mindset of business as usual,” he pointed out. “We know what we’re looking for, but it’s good to take a step back, look at the common mistakes from an industry-wide perspective, and get a refresher so we’re not just checking boxes.  

Zender will include data from various resources that demonstrate findings with respect to peer reviews and employee benefit plans. “We’ll be focusing on where the data shows common mistakes are happening,” he said. “It can help improve the quality at a team and firm level because you know which areas are more likely to be problem areas.” 

Zender specifically references the Department of Labor’s Audit Quality Report. “It feeds into the peer review process,” he said. “Peer reviewers will take the report and look at where quality is down. We’ll focus on these areas to inform our peer reviewers.” Zender explained the Quality Report, even though it only uses a sample, often extends to take a deeper look at quality than a standard peer review. For example, in the 2023 Quality Report, 91% of audits found to be deficient actually received a “pass” during peer review. 

Attendees will walk through a workpaper to determine what’s wrong in the scenario. “It all ties back to the audit quality issues we see and being able to identify what’s wrong,” Zender said. 

Zender’s goal is to help attendees come away feeling more confident as they head into EBP audit season. “OSCPA members can use this session as a refresher before they dive in,” he said. “It’s a good double check before EPB busy season.” 

Zender said when he was in public practice, he attended events just like this one. “Everyone had to attend because we wanted everyone to be aligned and on the same page to avoid mistakes and be efficient.”