Ensure ERISA Compliance with a Streamlined Audit Checklist

Managing employee benefit plans under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) requires meticulous attention to regulatory compliance. From maintaining up-to-date plan documents to filing Form 5500 accurately and on time, benefits administrators face complex requirements that can result in significant penalties if overlooked.

This ERISA Plan Document Compliance Audit Checklist is designed specifically for HR professionals, benefits administrators, and compliance officers who need a systematic approach to verifying that their organization's retirement and welfare benefit plans meet all federal requirements.

What This Template Helps You Accomplish

This comprehensive checklist walks you through the essential components of ERISA compliance, including:

• Plan document review to ensure all required provisions are current and legally compliant
• Summary Plan Description (SPD) verification to confirm participants receive accurate benefit information
• Form 5500 filing validation to check that annual reporting obligations are met
• Fiduciary responsibility assessment to document proper plan governance
• Participant notice and disclosure tracking to maintain required communications

Built for Benefits Professionals

Whether you're conducting an annual internal audit, preparing for a DOL investigation, or onboarding a new plan administrator, this template provides a structured framework that reduces the risk of compliance gaps. The conditional logic adapts the checklist based on your plan type (defined benefit, defined contribution, or welfare plans), ensuring you only answer relevant questions.

Streamline Compliance with Paperform and Stepper

Paperform makes it easy to collect, organize, and track compliance data across multiple benefit plans. Once submitted, you can use Stepper to automate follow-up workflows—such as routing identified deficiencies to the appropriate team members, scheduling remediation tasks, or triggering notifications when annual filing deadlines approach.

For organizations managing compliance across multiple entities or client companies, Paperform's Agency+ plan enables you to duplicate and customize this template for each plan sponsor while maintaining centralized reporting and oversight.

Start your ERISA compliance audit today with a form that's as thorough as your regulatory obligations require.