ACI Expands to Hawaii

By Yariel Chiong

We are pleased to announce that we have opened our doors in Hawaii and are now doing business there.

Our Hawaii office is led by Jeff Esmond, Consulting Administrator. Jeff began his career in the retirement industry in Honolulu in 1991 and most recently worked for Aon Consulting in Honolulu doing consulting and plan administration for small and large defined benefit and defined contribution plans.

Jeff holds the Qualified Pension Administrator (QPA) and Qualified 401(k) Administrator (QKA) designations from the American Society of Pension Professionals and Actuaries (ASPPA) and is currently working on ASPPA’s Certified Pension Consultant (CPC) designation. Additionally, he also recently was the first Hawaii resident to have received the new federal designation of Enrolled Retirement Plan Agent (ERPA) which means he has been admitted to practice before the Internal Revenue Service.

We are all very excited at ACI as we begin this new venture.

ALOHA

How to Identify Quality Recordkeeping

By Gerri Wheeler

Today I received such a great question from a participant in the “Plan Administration Seminar” that ACI sponsors that I had to share. The participant asked, “What can a Plan Sponsor look for to assure that their Recordkeeper is providing quality recordkeeping?” In response, there are several touch points that we can recommend:

· Monitoring the “Ins” – As a Plan Sponsor, you have the ability to track and monitor the contribution actually made to your plan. When you make a deposit of deferrals, matching, loan repayments, rollovers or employer contributions, double check that the totals imported match the totals received. If you can match your totals, you can be assured that the import has worked correctly.

· Monitoring the “Outs” – When a distribution occurs, review the amount actually distributed to the participant to the elections the participant made on their distribution election forms. Check for correct address. Were taxes withheld as directed?

· Paper Investment Elections (vs. Website) – Check to make sure that the Recordkeeper has correctly recorded the participant’s instruction on the investment election.

· Cash Account – does the activity in the cash account make sense? For instance, you can see your deposits that match payroll and the withdrawals that match the distribution instructions. Are forfeitures moved into this account when an ex-employee receives a distribution? Are there fees paid from this account, if so, to whom?

· Education – does your recordkeeper keep you informed of legislation that affects the operation of your plan? Do they provide reports that help you monitor the activities of the participants? Are they suggesting that an enrollment meeting occur?

If you have any other questions please don’t hesitate to contact an ACI consultant or your plan administrator. We have the knowledge. Let us share it with you.