Audits of Employee Benefit Plans Conference (E2305220)

As the Chief Accountant, Employee Benefits Security Administration, Mr. Auerbach is responsible for managing the resources of the Office of the Chief Accountant and implementing various comprehensive, nationwide enforcement programs relating to certain provisions of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA). He also provides ERISA related accounting and auditing technical expertise within the Employee Benefits Security Administration and is the liaison with the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA), the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) and other professional organizations. Mr. Auerbach provides executive oversight and leadership for EBSA’s fiduciary oversight program for the federal government’s Thrift Savings Plan (TSP). The TSP is the largest defined contribution plan in the world, with assets of in excess of $500 billion and 5.0 million participants.

Mr. Auerbach is a certified public accountant and earned his B.S. in accounting, from the University of Maryland.

Michael Gilchrist, CPA, is a senior manager at Marcum, LLP servicing closely held businesses and their owners. He manages the firms' employee benefit plan audits. With over thirty years of diverse experience in public accounting and private industry, he is able to provide clients with comprehensive and expert client service. Michael serves on the NJCPA Accounting and Auditing Interest Group as the Employee Benefit Plan Subcommittee Chairman. He is involved with many community organizations and is a graduate of Seton Hall University.

Sylwia Hejzner is a Senior Manager in Eisner Amper's Pension Services Group. With over 15 years of professional experience, Sylwia serves benefit plans in a variety of industries.

Sylwia has experience with all types of benefit plans, including defined contribution, defined benefit, multiemployer, health & welfare and nonqualified arrangements. She is well versed in both ERISA Section and Non-Section 103(a)(3)(C) (former limited and full scope) audit procedures. Sylwia keeps abreast on changes in the marketplace and audit best practices and teaches the firm’s annual employee benefit plan-specific training courses.

Sylwia is involved in all aspects of the audit engagement, including general planning, identifying areas of audit significance, performing risk assessments, developing audit approaches and drawing conclusions. She supervises engagement staff and provides training and oversight to ensure timely issue identification and resolution. She is adept at evaluating accounting matters, researching and applying accounting intelligence to complex transactions.

In addition, Sylwia is responsible for preparing audit reports for clients, which include summaries of findings and recommendations for improvement in controls, policies and procedures. She works hard to gather a comprehensive understanding of her clients’ businesses in order to add the most valuable recommendations for efficiency and effectiveness.

Michael is a member of the firm at Smolin, Lupin & Co and is responsible for quality control of the firm's Audit and Accounting practice. As a licensed CPA in New Jersey and New York, he assists clients with their annual audit requirements in a wide variety of industries including manufacturing, distribution, healthcare, life sciences, construction, real estate, broadcasting, retail, restaurants, apparel, publishing, software, technology and professional services. He has practiced public accounting for more than 25 years and also served private clients, assisting with audits of employee benefit plans, including 401ks, 403bs, 11Ks, and health and welfare benefit plans. He has been a speaker on employee benefit plans and had presented on national webcasts, at seminars and at continuing professional education (CPE) courses. In addition, he has written articles on various employee benefit plan topics. Michael is a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA) and the NJCPA.

Heather is a Managing Director in the Philadelphia office of Grant Thornton LLP with over 16 years of auditing and accounting experience. She is an Employee Benefit Plan practice dedicated Managing Director who has supervised and managed the performance of numerous employee benefit plan audits for both large and small companies across various industries including not-for-profit, healthcare and commercial. She is experienced in audits of both limited and full scope 401(k), 403(b), 401(a), defined benefit plans, health and welfare, 11-K filings and ESOPs. Heather has extensive experience in addressing reporting and disclosure issues related to benefit plans.

In addition, Heather annually participates both writing and delivering Grant Thornton’s employee benefit plan audit training. She annually participants in internal practice reviews and peer reviews. Her clients include private, publicly held and not-for-profit companies

Noorus’s primary responsibility has been to provide accounting and auditing, tax and ERISA audit services to clients. Clients turn to Noorus for her knowledge in the pharmaceutical, transportation, manufacturing and wholesale industries.

Noorus is a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants and the New Jersey Society of Certified Public Accountants. She is the past President of the Essex County Chapter of the New Jersey Society of Certified Public Accountants and is involved in the society’s student programs and scholarship committee.

Sean is a senior manager at Withum's Whippany, NJ office and has 15 years of public accounting experience. His expertise includes auditing, financial statement preparation and business consulting. Sean is a member of the Firm’s Manufacturing, Distribution & Logistics and Employee Benefits Services groups. In these roles he provides accounting and auditing services to clients within the manufacturing, distribution, cannabis and transportation industry sectors and employee benefit audit services to plans across all industries. Sean is also the Audit Team Leader of the Cannabis Services team and a frequent presenter at conferences and workshops on emerging accounting and industry topics. He resides in Bergen County, NJ.

Donna Nevolo, CPA is a partner based in the Whippany, NJ, office and has over 15 years of experience serving large, publicly held multi-national companies. As a member of the Firm’s Financial Services and Employee Benefit and Pension Plans Services Groups, Donna has extensive experience with auditing broker-dealers, hedge funds and other commercial businesses as well as retirement plan auditing. She consults clients on tax compliance and supervises the preparation of corporate and individual tax returns.

Charles is one of New Jersey’s foremost retirement planning experts, drawing upon his 25 years of industry experience to provide trusted counsel to clients and skilled leadership to INTAC Actuarial Services’ highly trained advisors. His career began at family-operated INTAC in 1994 as a pension consultant. Today, as INTAC’s managing partner, he spearheads the firm’s pension sales and marketing programs with an emphasis on delivering a high-touch, personalized customer experience. He proactively consults with clients and advisors on all forms of defined contribution and defined benefit plans throughout the planning process. He also sits on the TPA Advisory Boards for Nationwide, VOYA and Transamerica. Prior to joining INTAC, he was vice president of finance at Oxford Medical.

Andrea provides compliance support and training for all retirement plan related issues- ERISA and Non-Erisa plans. Full Administration services including documents, contributions, testing, 5500 filings, audit support for 80+ retirement plan.