Guidance on Benefits & Accounting Trends for Government Contractors

In collaboration with our partners at General Counsel P.C. and Rubino, Sahouri presented a panel of experts sharing timely and pertinent insurance and financial recommendations, including best practices for government contractors ahead of the new fiscal year with alternative plan choices, and critical compliance obligations.

Jodee Aquino, Corporate Benefits Practice Leader at Sahouri, examined recent corporate benefits and well-being trends, cost-containment tactics, and more.

Patrick Curtis, Shareholder at Rubino discussed the closing and opening of the fiscal year,  the accounting implications of benefits plan choices, taxes, 401k plans, and leave policies.

What you will learn:

• Emerging Trends
• Planning Ahead 
• Compliance 
• Watch the Webinar

Meet the Panel

Emerging Trends

Health & Benefits Trends

• The pandemic caused medical spending to be lower as people simply could not visit the doctor. Pharmacy spending has stayed consistent.

• 42% of employees are experiencing a decline in their mental health during the past year. To combat this, most carriers have an employee assistance program built in to assist employees with their mental wellness.

• Employers need to take into consideration which states their employees live in now that many people work from home. Businesses must follow the employment laws of the various states that their employees live in.

Accounting & Tax Trends

• Because employees are taking less time off, many people are accruing extremely large leave balances, which can result in large payouts. Due to this, employers may want to consider making changes to their leave policies for the future.

Planning for the New Year

Health & Benefits

• Looking at your contribution structure
  Spousal groups
  Wellness measures – incentivize employees to get a physical every year etc.

• You don’t have to be a large corporation to be self-funded. Depending on your company and your employee’s needs, a self-funded plan could save you money. Costs will not be a flat line every month – prices will vary depending on the number of claims. However, your price is always capped at a maximum.
  

Accounting & Tax

• IBNR (incurred but not reported) – self-funding can make this a bit more complicated. 

Compliance 

Health & Benefits Compliance 

• Companies under 50 employees DO need to be compliant with ERISA. 

• Requirements vary from state to state. It’s important to know where your employees are working so you can stay compliant.

Accounting & Tax Compliance 

•  Between now and the end of the year, we suggest your accounting system be audited.

• Establish clear responsibility for the preparation, review, and approval of cost estimates and budgets.
• Provide a written description of the organization and the duties of the personnel responsible for preparing, reviewing, and approving cost estimates and budgets.
• Ensure that relevant personnel has sufficient training, experience, and guidance to perform estimating and budgeting tasks in accordance with the Contractor’s established procedures.
• Identify and document the sources of data and the estimating methods and rationale used in developing cost estimates and budgets.

Watch Webinar