Zanesville, OH – Dec 13, 2018 – A principal with Rea & Associates, a regional CPA and business consulting firm, made his opinion known on the matter of proposed Multiple Employer Plan (MEP) legislation. Paul McEwan, CPA, MTax, AIFA, a principal with the firm and director of Rea’s retirement plan administration services team, recently wrote an article on the firm’s blog, found at https://www.reacpa.com/insights/ in which he warned that the elimination of employer oversight could result in excessive fees, bad investments and potential fraud.
In his article, which was published on Nov. 9, 2018, McEwan explained that the proposed Small Business Employees Retirement Enhancement Act would eliminate the fiduciary role of small employers in protecting employee retirement benefits from self-interested service providers. According to piece on the Rea & Associates website, the proposed bill would create a new type of “open” MEP plan, in which two or more unrelated employers can participate.
The Rea principal stated that this bill seeks to expand coverage of employees who work for small companies. McEwan cautioned that eliminating employer oversight would leave employees at risk of facing excessive fees, bad investments, and potential fraud. He went on to explain that replacing the employer-employee relationship with a service provider-client relationship eliminates the existing safeguards against these liabilities.
The reason employers do not sponsor retirement plans has little to do with fiduciary liabilities, said McEwan, who cited a Pew Charitable Trusts study that indicated that the primary reasons employers choose not to sponsor retirement plans are set up expenses, lack of resources for plan administration, and lack of interest from employees. He explained that there are better options for addressing these concerns than the MEP legislation that is currently being proposed.
Any legislation that stands between employers and their protection of employee interests, according to McEwan, puts employee retirement savings at substantial risk. Further information can be found at https://www.reacpa.com/insight/proposed-mep-legislation-would-undermine-fiduciary-protections/.
In closing, Rea provided some company information. According to the firm’s website, Rea & Associates is a regional accounting and business consulting firm that helps individuals and companies across the state and throughout the country. The company stated that it has been doing so since the Great Depression. The company employs more than 300 financial professionals across the state of Ohio and, in 2018, celebrated 80 years of service.
For more information about the Top 100 CPA Firm, visit https://www.reacpa.com/.
Media ContactCompany Name: Rea & Associates CPA FirmContact Person: Becca DavisEmail: Send EmailPhone: (800)837-0804Address:905 Zane St, 2nd Floor City: ZanesvilleState: OHCountry: United StatesWebsite: https://www.reacpa.com/zanesville-cpa-firm/