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AICPA Issues Working Draft on Multiemployer Benefit Plans

calendar iconApril 18, 2019

The American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (“AICPA”) wants to add a chapter on multiemployer benefit plans to the Audit and Accounting Guide Employee Benefit Plans. Issued on September 7 as a working draft, the chapter follows Financial Accounting Standards Board (“FASB”) guidance related to multiemployer plans. Such guidance includes FASB ASC 960, Plan Accounting—Defined Benefit Pension Plans, and FASB ASC 960, Plan Accounting—Defined Contribution Pension Plans.

Outlined in the draft chapter are the multiemployer plan requirements and how those plans vary from other employee plans. The guidance touches on the overlap among the accounting provisions of multiemployer plans and other retirement and benefit plans. Also mentioned in the chapter are the responsibilities of those involved with the plans’ oversight, such as the administrator, trustees, and the employers’ association.

Not addressed in the draft chapter are the financial statements that follow frameworks like tax accounting or regulatory accounting. The AICPA, however, said the guidance could be used for financial statements that abide by Labor Department rules, so long as companies note the departure from U.S. GAAP.

Comments on the draft chapter are due Tuesday, November 6.