I
103D CONGRESS
2D SESSION
H. R. 5226
To amend title I of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974
to improve enforcement of such title by adding certain provisions with
respect to the auditing of employee benefit plans, and for other purposes.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
OCTOBER 6, 1994
Mrs. MINK introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee
on Education and Labor
A BILL
To amend title I of the Employee Retirement Income Secu-
rity Act of 1974 to improve enforcement of such title
by adding certain provisions with respect to the auditing
of employee benefit plans, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘ERISA Audit Improve-
ment Act of 1994’’.
SEC. 2. REPEAL OF LIMITED SCOPE AUDIT.
(a) IN GENERAL.—Section 103(a)(3) of the Em-
ployee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (29
U.S.C. 1023(a)(3)) is amended by striking subparagraph
(C) and by redesignating subparagraph (D) as subpara-
graph (C).
(b) 
CONFORMING
AMENDMENT.—Section
104(a)(5)(A) of such Act (29 U.S.C. 1024(a)(5)(D)) is
amended by striking ‘‘section 103(a)(3)(D)’’ and inserting
‘‘section 103(a)(3)(C)’’.
(c) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by
this section shall apply with respect to opinions required
under section 103(a)(3)(A) of the Employee Retirement
Income Security Act of 1974 for plan years beginning on
or after January 1 of the calendar year following the date
of the enactment of this Act.
SEC. 3. EXTERNAL QUALITY CONTROL REVIEW REQUIRE-
MENT FOR QUALIFIED PUBLIC ACCOUNT-
ANTS.
(a) IN GENERAL.—Section 103(a)(3)(C) of the Em-
ployee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (as redes-
ignated by section 2) is amended—
(1) by striking ‘‘means’’ and inserting ‘‘means,
with respect to any engagement of an accountant
under subparagraph (A)’’;
(2) by redesignating clauses (i), (ii), and (iii) as
subclauses (I), (II), and (III), respectively;
(3) by inserting ‘‘(i)’’ after ‘‘(C)’’;
(4) in subclause (III) (as redesignated), by
striking the period and inserting a comma;
(5) by adding after and below such subclause
(III) the following:
‘‘if such person meets the requirements of clause (ii) with
respect to such engagement.’’; and
(6) by adding at the end the following new
clauses:
‘‘(ii) A person meets the requirements of this clause
with respect to an engagement of such person as an ac-
countant under subparagraph (A) if such person—
‘‘(I) has in operation an appropriate internal
quality control system, and
‘‘(II) has undergone a qualified external quality
control review of the person’s accounting and audit-
ing practices, including such practices relevant to
employee benefit plans (if any), during the 3-year
period immediately preceding such engagement.
‘‘(iii) For purposes of clause (ii)(II), an external qual-
ity control review shall be treated as ‘qualified’ with re-
spect to a person referred to in clause (ii) if—
‘‘(I) such review is performed in accordance
with the requirements of external quality control re-
view programs of recognized auditing standard-set-
ting bodies, as determined by the Comptroller Gen-
eral of the United States or in regulations of the
Secretary, and
‘‘(II) in the case of any such person who has
conducted one or more previous audits of employee
benefit plans, such review includes the review of an
appropriate number (determined as shall be provided
in such regulations but in no case less than one) of
plan audits in relation to the scale of such person’s
auditing practice.’’.
(b) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by
this section shall apply with respect to plan years begin-
ning on or after the date which is 3 years after the date
of the enactment of this Act.
SEC. 4. REQUIREMENT FOR REPORTING OF CERTAIN
EVENTS.
(a) IN GENERAL.—Part 1 of subtitle B of title I of
the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974
(29 U.S.C. 1021 et seq.) is amended—
(1) by redesignating section 111 as section 112;
and
(2) by inserting after section 110 the following
new section:
‘‘DIRECT REPORTING OF CERTAIN EVENTS
‘‘SEC. 111. (a) REQUIRED NOTIFICATIONS.—
‘‘(1) 
NOTIFICATIONS
BY
PLAN
ADMINIS-
TRATOR.—In the case of an administrator of an em-