PEP Audits

PEP audit specialists from day one.

Pooled Employer Plans are complex. Multiple adopting employers, layered fiduciary responsibilities, and unique testing requirements. We built our practice around this complexity — so you don't have to explain how PEPs work to your auditor.

Get Your Proposal → Schedule a 15-Min Chat

Starting at $15,000 — see full pricing

What is a PEP audit?

A Pooled Employer Plan (PEP) allows unrelated employers to participate in a single retirement plan managed by a Pooled Plan Provider (PPP). Made available under the SECURE Act starting in 2021, PEPs offer small and mid-size employers access to institutional-quality retirement benefits without the burden of sponsoring their own plan.

Like traditional 401(k) plans, PEPs with 100 or more eligible participants must have an annual audit. But PEP audits are significantly more complex. The auditor must test compliance at both the plan level and the individual adopting employer level — eligibility testing, contribution calculations, and timeliness testing for each adopter, not just the plan as a whole.

The auditor also evaluates the Pooled Plan Provider's fiduciary obligations. This layered structure is exactly why PEPs need a specialist — not a generalist firm figuring it out as they go.

Who We Work With

Built for the teams that run PEPs

Pooled Plan Providers

You're the named fiduciary and plan administrator. You need an auditor who understands your obligations under ERISA and won't create bottlenecks in your operations.

TPAs & Recordkeepers

You coordinate data across dozens of adopting employers. You need an auditor who can handle the complexity without creating more work for you.

Financial Advisors with PEPs

You've built a PEP to serve your clients. You need an audit partner whose quality reflects the standard you've promised them.

Why PEPs Need A Specialist

What makes PEP audits different

Multi-adopter testing

Every adopting employer needs individual testing — eligibility, contributions, distributions, loans. Generic audit firms treat this as an afterthought. We built our process around it.

PPP compliance

We understand the Pooled Plan Provider's unique fiduciary obligations and test accordingly. No guesswork, no learning on your dime.

Adopter onboarding/offboarding

Employers join and leave PEPs mid-year. We handle the complexity of partial-year testing without disrupting your operations or timeline.

Scalable process

Whether you have 5 adopters or 50, our process scales. We've built workflows specifically for multi-adopter plans so complexity doesn't mean chaos.

Single point of contact

One engagement lead coordinates everything — from data collection across adopters to the final report. No passing you between departments.

Pricing

Transparent PEP pricing

Startup PEP
≤15 adopters
$15,000
Flat fee
Mid-Size PEP
16–100 adopters
From $20,000
$20K base + $50/small adopter + $500/large adopter
Enterprise PEP
100+ adopters
Custom
Let's talk about your needs
See full pricing breakdown →
Get Your Exact Price →

FAQ

Common questions about PEP audits

A PEP audit requires testing at both the plan level and the individual adopting employer level. This means separate eligibility, contribution, and distribution testing for each adopter. The auditor also needs to evaluate the PPP's fiduciary compliance — something that doesn't apply to standalone 401(k) plans.
Typically 6-10 weeks, depending on the number of adopting employers and data availability. We'll set a timeline at kickoff and provide weekly updates so you always know where things stand.
Yes, but we coordinate this through your TPA or recordkeeper whenever possible. We minimize the burden on individual employers and handle the complexity of gathering data across multiple sources.
We handle partial-year testing as a standard part of our PEP audit process. Adopter changes mid-year are common and our workflows account for this — it's one of the reasons you want a PEP specialist.
Yes. Our process is built to scale. For very large PEPs (100+ adopters), contact us for custom scoping and pricing.
We audit those too. See our 401(k) audit page for details. Volume pricing is available when you have multiple plans that need auditing.

Ready to get started?

Get your PEP audit proposal in under 2 minutes. Fixed pricing, no surprises.

Get Your Proposal →

Prefer to talk first? Schedule a 15-Min Chat · hello@pepperauditors.com