An Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) attorney once shared with Premier his three keys to fiduciary compliance: Documentation! Documentation! Documentation! We took that advice very seriously.
Procedural, decision making and relationship documentation should take the highest priority for plan fiduciaries. What you are doing, why you decided to do it, and who is responsible for doing it, covers the vast majority of the areas you are responsible for. You should demand that your investment advisor, Third Party Administrator (TPA) and all other retirement plan service providers assist in this documentation process.
Fiduciary support documentation for plan trustees is a black void in the retirement plan services industry. This professional neglect in assisting plan trustees stems from a lack of one basic document — The Co-Fiduciary Acknowledgement. When plan decision makers are misled by industry professionals in not demanding a documented co-fiduciary relationship with the investment advisor, it starts a chain reaction of lack of accountability in documentation assistance to plan trustees. Demand a documented co-fiduciary relationship and then demand an ongoing documentation process to support plan trustee responsibilities.
We are passionate about sharing the details of our standard setting documentation process with plan fiduciaries. Premier begins each retirement plan relationship with a strong, clear, well-defined co-fiduciary acknowledgement. In addition, we add an effective Investment Policy Statement and a rigorous documentation process we collectively refer to as our Fiduciary Compliance Notebook. This proprietary system fully documents the plan’s performance and costs, all the trustee’s decisions and actions, and other matters necessary to demonstrate compliance with Department of Labor and ERISA regulations.
