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.
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Missing or outdated documentation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
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
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.
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
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.