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|The Commonwealth of Massachusetts is looking for responses from other states regarding estimated costs for attestation services related to the GASB 68 Allocation Schedules required for cost sharing multiple employer |

|pension plans.  Massachusetts has two cost sharing multiple employer pension plans (Teachers Retirement System and State Employees Retirement System). The purpose is to determine if quoted costs of this attestation |

|service are in line with other states. |

|State |How many cost sharing |For each pension plan, |Are there any special |Who is opining on the allocation schedules, the state’s |If your state is comfortable providing |What is their estimate of|

| |multiple employer |approximately how many |funding situations |independent auditor, another auditor, each participating |such information, how much (ballpark) are|the time required to |

| |pension plans does the|participating entities are|related to any of the |entity’s auditor, or other?  If other, please explain. |firms charging to opine and prepare the |complete the attestation |

| |state report in its |in the plan, excluding the|pension plans? | |attestation report for the allocation |reports? |

| |CAFR? |state? | | |schedules?  Please indicate if the cost | |

| | | | | |is either in total or per each pension | |

| | | | | |plan. | |

|Georgia |Georgia will be |The participating |All of the plans being|ERS and TRS will have their allocation schedules audited by in |This information isn’t known at this |In early conversations, |

| |reporting on 6 cost |employers in each plan |reported in our CAFR |external auditor. We are still working through the details of |time. This being the first year in |our external auditor for |

| |sharing multiple |range from 91 to 833. The|have special funding |our small plan schedules. |addition to not knowing 100% of the |our largest plans |

| |employer pension plans|total for all plans |situations. | |necessary audit procedures makes it |indicated that it would |

| |(3-ERS, 1-TRS, and two|reported is around 2,250 | | |difficult to provide an accurate |take about a month after |

| |additional small |employers. | | |estimate. |they received the |

| |plans) in the state | | | | |allocation schedules. |

| |CAFR. | | | | |That was with some |

| | | | | | |additional prep work |

| | | | | | |ahead of time such as |

| | | | | | |mailing confirmations, |

| | | | | | |etc. Plus we do not |

| | | | | | |believe that the external|

| | | | | | |auditor would be working |

| | | | | | |exclusively on our |

| | | | | | |engagement during that |

| | | | | | |time period. With the |

| | | | | | |anticipated issuance of |

| | | | | | |the AICPA Audit Guide, |

| | | | | | |additional procedures may|

| | | | | | |be necessary. |

|Idaho |Two. We report quite |We have approximately 666 |No |Our PERS contracts with an independent, non-state entity to |$25,000 for the PERS Base Plan; | |

| |extensively on our |employers discounting | |audit their financials. The same entity audited a ‘Schedule of|$5,000 for the Firefighters’ Retirement | |

| |PERS Base Plan; |state employers for the | |Allocations and Net Pension Amounts by Employer’ report which |Fund | |

| |however, we simply |PERS Base Plan. | |contained contribution and liability allocations for each | | |

| |report that we have a | | |employer in the system. The schedule also includes notes to | | |

| |Firefighters’ | | |the schedules. | | |

| |Retirement Fund and | | | | | |

| |refer the reader to | | | | | |

| |the Plan financial | | | | | |

| |report (the state does| | | | | |

| |not employ any | | | | | |

| |firefighters). | | | | | |

|Iowa |One |Our cost sharing multiple |No |Auditor of State |Our office does not have access to this |Our office does not have |

| | |employer plan reported | | |information. |access to this |

| | |approximately 2,000 | | | |information. |

| | |employers in their 2014 | | | | |

| | |comprehensive annual | | | | |

| | |financial report. | | | | |

|Montana |Seven. Montana has |The number varies |Several plans have |The Legislative Audit Division will opine on the allocation |The cost associated with opining on the |N/A |

| |seven cost sharing |significantly between |special funding |schedules. |allocation schedules is unknown. Our work| |

| |multiple employer |plans and depends on |situations. | |will conform to AU-C 805, Special | |

| |plans: Public Employee|membership provisions. At | |The state’s independent auditor, the Legislative Audit Division|Considerations – Audits of Single | |

| |Retirement System – |June 30, 2013, the number |PERS-DB; MPORS; FURS; |(LAD), will perform reviews of the allocation schedules. |Financial Statements and Specific | |

| |Defined Benefit |ranged from 25 to 506. |TRS; and VFCA all have|However, I have not been made aware of whether a formal opinion|Elements, Accounts, or Items of a | |

| |(PERS-DB); Sheriffs | |a special funding |or related attestation report over this specific data was or is|Financial Statement, and the Auditing | |

| |Retirement System | |situation. However, |intended to be provided; rather, as the lead auditor over the |Interpretation at AU-C 9805. We do not | |

| |(SRS); Game Wardens | |the VFCA does not |plans, LAD performs this work in relation to the various |plan to prepare an attestation report; it| |

| |and Peace Officers | |receive any employer |pension plan’s financial statement amounts and disclosures and |is our understanding a service | |

| |Retirement System | |or employee |will tender an opinion for the same. Therefore, it is unclear,|organization report is required only for | |

| |(GWPORS); Municipal | |contributions; rather,|to me individually, what form other non-state employer auditors|agent multiple employer plans. | |

| |Police Officers | |it only receives |will obtain their assurance from in relation to the allocated | | |

| |Retirement System | |non-employer |items. | | |

| |(MPORS); Firefighters | |contributions from the| | | |

| |Unified Retirement | |state based on fire | | | |

| |System (FURS); | |insurance premium tax.| | | |

| |Teachers Retirement | |We have a PERS-Defined| | | |

| |System (TRS); and | |Contribution plan with| | | |

| |Volunteer Firefighters| |a special funding as | | | |

| |Compensation Act | |well. | | | |

| |(VFCA). | | | | | |

|Nevada |One |190 |No |PERS Independent Auditor |$52,000 |6 to 8 weeks |

|New Mexico |Two |ERB 230 Participating |ERB funded by |ERB IPA |Unknown at this time |Unknown at this time |

| | |Employers |investment growth & | | | |

| | |PERA 580 Participating |contributions. | | | |

| | |Employers | | | | |

|North Carolina |We have 4 cost |Teachers’ and State | Yes, we have 2 |The Office of the State Auditor (OSA) audits pension plans |OSA cannot confirm how much time or how |However, OSA can speak to|

| |sharing, multiple |Employees’ Retirement |pension plans with |included in the state’s CAFR and will also be opining on the |much the cost was with the local employer|the work that was |

| |employer pensions |System – 258 |special funding |schedules. There will be three plans: Teachers’ and State |auditors on the census data. |performed on the TSERS |

| |plans: | |situations: |Employees’ Retirement System (TSERS), the Local Government | |plan, which has taken |

| | |Local Governmental | |Employees’ Retirement System (LGERS), and the Register of Deeds| |approximately 1,600 hours|

| |1) Teachers’ and |Employees’ Retirement |1) Firefighter’s and |Supplemental Pension Plan where OSA will audit and opine on | |to date for OSA to audit |

| |State Employees’ |System – 886 |Rescue Squad Workers’ |schedules for each. The OSA has contracted with an actuary to | |that data. |

| |Retirement System | |Pension Fund |gain assurance on the actuarial assumptions used to prepare the| | |

| |2) Local Governmental|Firefighters’ and Rescue |2) North Carolina |schedules. | | |

| |Employees’ Retirement |Squad Workers’ Pension |National Guard Pension| | | |

| |System |Plan – 1,811 |Fund (Single Employer |To prepare for the audit of the plan in the CAFR and the audit | | |

| |3) Firefighters’ and | |Defined Benefit |of the schedules under GASB No. 68, OSA performed audit | | |

| |Rescue Squad Workers’ |Register of Deeds |Pension Plan) |procedures related to the underlying census data at the | | |

| |Pension Plan |Supplemental Pension Plan | |employer level used to support the net pension liability | | |

| |4) Register of Deeds |– 100 | |disclosed and allocated in the schedules. OSA performed | | |

| |Supplemental Pension | | |procedures on both the 2013 liability (beginning balance) and | | |

| |Plan | | |the 2014 liability. The OSA selected a sample of employer | | |

| | | | |participants in both the TSERS and the LGERS plans based on the| | |

| | | | |guidance in the Whitepaper Series. (NOTE: the Register of Deeds| | |

| | | | |plan is a supplemental retirement plan and all members are also| | |

| | | | |a part of LGERS). For the TSERS plan, the OSA performed the | | |

| | | | |required procedures on the census data. For the LGERS plan, | | |

| | | | |the employers are local governments and as such, OSA instructed| | |

| | | | |each employer auditor to conduct an examination engagement in | | |

| | | | |accordance with AT section 101. NC’s local governments’ | | |

| | | | |financial statements are audited annually by independent CPAs. | | |

| | | | |The results were provided to OSA in the form of an attestation | | |

| | | | |opinion that was used as substantive evidence to support the | | |

| | | | |audit opinion on the pension plans and to support the net | | |

| | | | |pension liability that was utilized in the allocation | | |

| | | | |schedules. | | |

|North Dakota |Two |250 & 300 |No |We contract for the audits of these two plans (PERS and TFFR). |We amended the prior contract to do the |[pic][pic] |

| | | | |The auditors of the financial statements will be also opining |first audit of the allocation schedules. | |

| | | | |on the GASB 68 schedules (following the AICPA whitepaper |Each firm’s 2015 contract was amended in | |

| | | | |guidance). |the amount of $75,000.  This includes | |

| | | | | |auditing the census data.  We | |

| | | | | |competitively bid these for the 2015, 16 | |

| | | | | |and 17 audits (last year was the last | |

| | | | | |year of the contract).  Both contracts | |

| | | | | |were awarded to CLA.  Proposals attached,| |

| | | | | |you can see the hours and dollars. | |

|Oklahoma |4 |State – 287 |No |Each pension plan’s auditor |Unknown – each pension plan handles. |Unknown |

| | |Police – 137 | | | | |

| | |Firefighters – 615 | | | | |

| | |Teachers – 607 | | | | |

|Pennsylvania |Pennsylvania reports |For SERS, there are 103 |For the SERS plan |The SERS plan auditors are opining on the SERS allocation |The Attestation Report the Commonwealth |The Commonwealth’s |

| |two cost sharing |participating employers, |there are no special |schedules, and the PSERS plan auditors are opining on the PSERS|has received is not specifically related |independent audit firm |

| |multiple employer |of which 54 are considered|funding situations. |allocation schedules. |to the allocation schedules that will be |prepared an estimate of |

| |pension plans in its |part of the primary |For the PSERS plan, |The Commonwealth’s independent auditors are performing |provided by the Plans; as discussed in |190 total hours to |

| |CAFR. One plan, the |government of the |the Commonwealth pays |attestation engagement and opining on the completeness and |Question 4 above, the allocation |complete the |

| |State Employees’ |Commonwealth, and the 54 |50% of various |accuracy of the pension related census data the Commonwealth |schedules provided by the Plans will be |Commonwealth’s |

| |Retirement System |primary government |non-school entities’ |provides to SERS, and the amount of contributions the |covered in the opinion issued by the |attestation engagement |

| |(SERS) is established |employers total |contributions, which |Commonwealth sends to the SERS plan on a weekly basis. |Plan’s auditors. |and issue the associated |

| |for Commonwealth |approximately 83% of the |is considered a | | |report. Please note that|

| |employees; the other, |total contributions coming|special funding | | |our attestation |

| |the Public School |into the plan. |situation. | | |engagement was not |

| |Employees’ Retirement |For PSERS, there are 789 | | | |related to opining on the|

| |System (PSERS), the |participating employers. | | | |allocation schedules, as |

| |Commonwealth | | | | |noted in question 4. |

| |contributes to as a | | | | | |

| |non-employer. | | | | | |

| |Attestation procedures| | | | | |

| |were performed only | | | | | |

| |for the SERS related | | | | | |

| |census data. | | | | | |

|Washington |1. Washington has 14 |Excluding the state, there|I believe there is one|The State Department of Retirement System’s (DRS) independent |Please contact DRS directly with |Our time budget per |

| |cost-sharing, |are 1,148 participating |special funding |auditor is opining on the allocation schedules. DRS has |questions about its contract with its |employer (site visit and |

| |multiple-employer |employers. Employers may |situation. |contracted with the State Auditor’s Office to conduct census |independent auditor. |attestation report |

| |pension plans reported|participate in multiple | |data testing at state agencies and local governments. The | |preparation) is |

| |in its state CAFR. |plans. Participation per | |testing sample was provided by DRS’s independent auditor. | |approximately 40 hours. |

| | |plan ranges from | | | |This is an average based |

| | |approximately 45 to 765. | | | |on consultation with |

| | | | | | |DRS’s independent |

| | | | | | |auditor. Depending on |

| | | | | | |the size of the employer,|

| | | | | | |actual ranges from 30 to |

| | | | | | |80 hours. |

|Wisconsin | 1 |1,400+ |No |The state’s auditor is opining on the allocation schedule. The|Our office does not have that |Our office does not have |

| | | | |Wisconsin Legislative Audit Bureau is the state’s auditor. |information. |that information. |

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