DETROIT – Few of us were math majors in college. Even fewer of us ever worked as a detective. Yet the Department of Labor?s 401(k) provider and participant disclosure rules require both skills!
As a quick refresher, the DOL issued regulations in 2012 requiring that most parties being paid out of 401(k) plan assets inform plan sponsors about their direct and indirect compensation. The regulations also require that plan sponsors give participants an annual notice describing the fees and expenses directly and indirectly impacting participants? plan accounts.
Some service providers have done a better job than others in communicating that information to plan sponsors, and some plan sponsors have done a better job than others in analyzing that information and, in turn, providing it in a meaningful way to participants. In fact, in some cases plan sponsors may have passively received the information from their service providers without analysis and provided that information to participants without ?doing the math.?
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