Preventing Compliance Gaps with Data-Driven Audits

Why proactive auditing is your best defense against costly benefits errors

When it comes to benefits administration, compliance is not optional. But many benefits teams only catch mistakes after they’ve become liabilities.

This post explores how data auditing, especially during implementation and open enrollment, can prevent costly errors, improve accuracy, and keep your organization ahead of compliance risks.


The Problem: Too Much Data, Not Enough Oversight

Benefits teams juggle thousands of data points: employee demographics, payroll deductions, eligibility windows, and carrier file feeds, all of which must align perfectly.

But when compliance issues arise, it’s often due to:

  • Mismatched payroll and enrollment records

  • Incorrect eligibility groupings

  • Plan rule misconfigurations

  • Missing or outdated documentation

  • Incorrect pretax handling under IRS rules

Even small discrepancies can result in:

  • HIPAA violations (due to incorrect coverage details)

  • IRS non-compliance (improper pretax deductions)

  • Rejected claims or forfeitures (hurting employee trust)

  • Rework for internal teams and vendors


The Approach: Auditing Before Mistakes Happen

As part of implementation and open enrollment support, I developed an auditing system that caught errors before the system went live.

Tools used:

  • Excel + AbleBits: To compare employee census files, identify mismatches, and flag new/terminated employees across versions

  • SQL: For running pre-load queries to check plan configurations and eligibility rules

  • Validation scripts: To ensure deductions matched plan types and contribution limits

  • Checklists and Quality Assurance documents: Tailored for each client to ensure no compliance point was missed


A Sample Compliance Audit: Contribution Limit Check

Here’s a visual mockup of an audit I ran to ensure that no employees exceeded IRS limits for FSA and HSA contributions:

Each dot represents a participant’s annual election. Outliers are flagged in red. Those elections were adjusted before they could trigger compliance issues.


Results: Smooth Go-Lives and Happier Stakeholders

100% on-time online open enrollment delivery across multiple platforms

Identified and resolved configuration mismatches before they went live

Eliminated participant complaints about incorrect deduction amounts

Maintained HIPAA and IRS compliance for all client plans during implementation


Final Thought: Compliance Isn’t Just a Checkbox

Preventing compliance gaps isn’t about red tape. It’s about protecting your employees, your company, and your reputation. With the right data practices in place, you don’t just catch errors. You prevent them from happening in the first place.


To identify areas your company could be improving, contact me for a consultation.

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