# White-label actuarial support for accounting firms and TPAs

Canonical: https://finbryn.com/us/services/actuarial-services/white-label-actuarial-support

Finbryn provides white-label actuarial support for accounting firms and TPAs, preparing valuation workpapers, data checks and roll-forwards to your templates and assumption set during filing season. Finbryn's signing actuary signs accounting reports, an enrolled actuary signs the Schedule SB and other ERISA funding work, and Form 5500 for a calendar-year plan is due July 31.

A firm that sells plan administration, audit or tax services to employers often ends up holding valuation work it cannot staff in the weeks before a deadline. White-label actuarial support fills that gap. Finbryn prepares the calculations and workpapers under your firm's name, in your layout, and routes a review file to a signing actuary. Your firm keeps the client relationship, and the engagement letter names the actuary who signs.

The arrangement is narrow on purpose. Finbryn's workpapers are not a certification or an opinion, and Finbryn does not talk to your client's auditor or the IRS on your behalf. It does the repeatable part of the job: loading census and asset data, checking it against the prior year, running the valuation model, rolling results forward between full valuation dates and tying the figures to the schedules the signing actuary reviews.

This fits three situations well. A TPA with a cash balance or defined benefit book that peaks between January and July. An accounting firm whose audit or tax clients sponsor a pension plan and need ASC 715 figures at year-end. A boutique actuarial practice that wants overflow capacity without adding a permanent hire. In each case the firm keeps the client relationship and its own templates.

Work arrives as a data request that mirrors your own intake sheet, so nothing about the process asks your client to learn a new format. The review file comes back in the folder structure the signing actuary expects, with exceptions listed first. Pricing, confidentiality terms and the filing calendar are agreed in writing before the first file moves, and the [engagement process](/how-it-works) is the same one used for every Finbryn service. If your firm also needs bookkeeping capacity for its own clients, see [white-label bookkeeping](/services/for-accounting-firms/white-label-bookkeeping).

What you get: Census and asset data checks with a written exceptions list; Valuation workpapers built to your firm's templates and assumption set; Roll-forward calculations between full valuation dates; A review file organized for the signing actuary; Input labels showing what was client-supplied and what was prepared; A working calendar tracked against your filing dates

Software we work in: Microsoft Excel, Python, R

How filing works: We prepare the return and the working papers. A credentialed signer or licensed partner signs and files it, or you file it yourself.

## What does a firm send, and what does it get back?

The firm sends source data and its templates; it gets back checked data, completed workpapers and a review file for the signing actuary. The table shows the usual exchange by engagement type. The last column says who signs. Where it names an enrolled actuary, the engagement letter confirms who that is.

| Engagement type | Firm sends | Firm gets back | Signed by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Annual funding valuation | Census, plan document, asset statement, prior-year valuation | Data exceptions list, funding target and minimum contribution workpapers, Schedule SB support schedules | Plan's enrolled actuary |
| Cash balance design study | Owner and staff census, pay and goals | Contribution range tables by participant, nondiscrimination test inputs | Plan's enrolled actuary, if adopted |
| PBGC premium support | Participant counts, valuation results | Flat-rate and variable-rate premium calculation workpapers | Enrolled actuary for the variable-rate certification |
| ASC 715 year-end | Census, asset report, auditor request list | Obligation, cost and disclosure tables, assumption memo draft | Finbryn's signing actuary |
| Roll-forward between valuations | Prior valuation, benefit payments, new entrants | Updated liability and cost figures with a reconciliation | Enrolled actuary for funding figures; Finbryn's signing actuary for accounting figures |
| Standard termination | Benefit data, election forms, annuity quotes | Lump-sum and annuity cost schedules, missing participant list | Enrolled actuary for Schedule EA-S |

Rows are examples of typical scope, not a fixed menu.

## How does a white-label engagement run?

An engagement runs from your template to the signing actuary, in seven steps, with the client's data entering at the start and your firm delivering at the end. The diagram shows the order. The firm sends source data and its templates. Finbryn runs data checks and returns an exceptions list, builds the workpapers to your layout, runs the roll-forward where it applies and assembles a review file. The signing actuary reviews it and signs, and for filings the law restricts to an enrolled actuary the engagement letter confirms who signs. The firm then delivers the signed work to its client, and its client's auditor or the IRS receives it from you.

Each handoff is a written one. The exceptions list is a dated file, not a verbal note, so the signing actuary can see exactly which records were changed or queried before the model ran.

Diagram: One white-label engagement, start to delivery. Seven steps: the firm sends data and templates, data checks, workpapers built to the firm's template, roll-forward, review file, the signing actuary signs, the firm delivers to its client.

## Who signs, and what stays with the signer?

The signing actuary signs, and every professional judgment stays with that actuary. [Hesham Khan](/about) is Finbryn's signing actuary and reviews and signs the accounting reports Finbryn prepares, such as ASC 715 figures. If your firm has its own actuary, such as a boutique practice, the work can go to that actuary instead, and the engagement letter says which route applies.

Some filings are different. Under 20 CFR 901.2, an entity engaged to provide ERISA actuarial services can provide them only through an enrolled actuary who is its employee, partner or consultant. The 2025 Form 5500 instructions say Schedule SB is prepared and signed by the plan's enrolled actuary. For those filings the engagement letter confirms who signs, and Finbryn stays on the support side of that line.

In practice that means the signing actuary picks the assumptions, reviews the data, decides what to rely on and signs. Actuarial Standard of Practice No. 23 on data quality lets an actuary rely on data supplied by others, with disclosure, and does not require an audit of that data. Finbryn labels every input as client-supplied or prepared by Finbryn, so the signing actuary can describe the reliance accurately in the report. Finbryn never labels data prep as actuary-reviewed.

## How is client data kept confidential?

Census files carry names, birth dates, pay and sometimes Social Security numbers, so they are handled as personal data under terms you set. Before any file moves, your firm sets in writing the transfer method, who can open the files and when they are returned or deleted.

If your client contract limits where data may go, that limit is written into the agreement. Finbryn does not claim a SOC 2 report or an ISO certificate; the [security page](/security) lists what is in place today, and any control you need that is not listed is raised before the engagement starts, not after.

## What does white-label actuarial support cost?

Cost depends on the work, and Finbryn quotes in writing after seeing a sample of your data. The quote names who signs. The main drivers are the number of plans and participants in the batch, how clean the census is, whether each plan needs a full valuation or only a roll-forward, how closely the work must follow your own template and how close the filing date is. A batch of similar plans can be quoted together, per plan.

We did not find a public fee schedule for private-plan white-label valuation work, so this page publishes no range. Public procurement records do exist for government pension valuations, but those are different plans and a poor guide for a TPA's book. Ask any provider for a per-plan quote that separates full valuations, roll-forwards and rework caused by late or changed data. See [how pricing works](/pricing).

## The process

1. **Scope the batch and sign the data terms**: List the plans, valuation dates and your filing calendar. Agree confidentiality and transfer terms in writing.

2. **Receive census and asset data**: Data arrives in your intake format. Each field is logged as client-supplied.

3. **Run data checks**: Compare against the prior year, flag duplicates, odd pay and missing dates, and return a written exceptions list.

4. **Build workpapers to your template**: Calculations follow your assumption set. Roll-forwards run where a full valuation is not due.

5. **Deliver the review file**: Exceptions first, then results, then support schedules, in the folder layout the signing actuary uses.

6. **The signing actuary reviews and signs**: The signing actuary decides assumptions and reliance and signs the accounting or reserve report. An enrolled actuary signs Schedule SB and other ERISA funding work, and the engagement letter confirms who signs any filing. Your firm delivers the work to its client.

7. **Auditor or regulator receives the signed work**: Actuarial questions from the auditor go to the signing actuary. Finbryn answers follow-up data questions through you.

## Common problems we fix

| The problem | How we fix it |
| --- | --- |
| Filing-season volume exceeds your actuarial staff | Overflow plans go through data checks and workpapers in parallel, so the signing actuary starts from a prepared file instead of raw census. |
| Census data arrives late, incomplete or changed | Every exception is logged with the date it was raised and resolved, so rework is visible and the signing actuary can see what moved. |
| Outside vendors use their own formats and clients notice | Workpapers are built to your templates and returned in your folder structure, under your name. |
| Confidentiality terms in client contracts are strict | Transfer method, access and return or deletion are written into the data agreement before any file moves. |
| Roll-forward years get less attention than full valuations | A reconciliation to the prior valuation is part of every roll-forward, so the change in liability is explained as well as reported. |

## By the numbers

| Figure | What it means | Source |
| --- | --- | --- |
| July 31 | Form 5500 due date for a calendar-year plan, the last day of the seventh month after the plan year ends | [irs.gov/retirement-plans/form-5500-corner](https://www.irs.gov/retirement-plans/form-5500-corner) (2026-10-02) |
| $250 a day | IRC 6058 penalty for failure to file Form 5500, capped at $150,000 | [irs.gov/retirement-plans/form-5500-corner](https://www.irs.gov/retirement-plans/form-5500-corner) (2026-10-02) |
| October 15, 2026 | normal PBGC premium due date for a calendar-year plan's 2026 plan year | [pbgc.gov/sites/default/files/documents/2026-premium-payment-instructions.pdf](https://www.pbgc.gov/sites/default/files/documents/2026-premium-payment-instructions.pdf) (2026-10-02) |

## Glossary

- **White-label**: Work prepared by one firm and delivered to the end client under another firm's name and template.

- **Enrolled actuary**: An actuary approved by the Joint Board for the Enrollment of Actuaries to perform actuarial services required under ERISA, including signing Schedule SB.

- **Schedule SB**: The single-employer defined benefit plan schedule attached to Form 5500, prepared and signed by the plan's enrolled actuary.

- **TPA**: Third-party administrator: a firm that runs plan recordkeeping, testing and filings for employers that sponsor retirement plans.

- **Roll-forward**: An update of a prior full valuation to a new date, adjusting for benefit payments, new entrants and asset changes without re-running every record.

- **Census**: The participant data a valuation uses: birth and hire dates, pay, hours worked, status and, where relevant, benefit elections.

- **ASOP 23**: The Actuarial Standards Board standard on data quality, under which an actuary may rely on data supplied by others, subject to review and disclosure.

- **Review file**: The package handed to the signing actuary: exceptions list, results, support schedules and input labels, ordered so the actuary reviews the riskiest items first.

## Frequently asked questions: White-label actuarial support for accounting firms and TPAs

**Q: Who signs the work when an accounting firm outsources actuarial valuation support?**

A: Finbryn's signing actuary signs accounting and reserve reports, and ERISA funding work goes to an enrolled actuary. Under 20 CFR 901.2 (eCFR, checked 2026-10-02), ERISA actuarial services must be provided through an enrolled actuary, and Schedule SB is signed by the plan's enrolled actuary. Finbryn prepares the calculations. If your firm has its own actuary who should sign instead, the engagement letter says so.

**Q: Does my client know Finbryn did part of the work?**

A: Workpapers go out under your firm's name and templates. What you tell your client is your decision, and the signing actuary's report should describe reliance on prepared inputs accurately, as Actuarial Standards of Practice No. 23 on data quality expects. Finbryn labels each input so that description is easy to write.

**Q: What does a TPA need to send for a funding valuation?**

A: Participant census, the plan document and amendments, asset statements at the valuation date, the prior-year valuation report and your assumption set. The Form 5500 for a calendar-year plan is due July 31 (IRS, reviewed 2026-07-20), so the data request is built backward from that date.

**Q: How is plan data kept confidential?**

A: Terms are written down before data moves: the transfer method, who can open the files, and when they are returned or deleted. Finbryn makes no SOC 2 or ISO claim today. See the [security page](/security) for what is described publicly.

**Q: What does white-label actuarial support cost?**

A: It is quoted per engagement, driven by plan count, participant count, data quality, full valuation versus roll-forward, how closely the work follows your template and the deadline. We did not find a public fee schedule for private-plan white-label work, so no range is published. Ask for a quote that separates rework from base work.

**Q: How do I choose a white-label actuarial partner?**

A: Ask who signs and with what credential, what is delivered (calculations or a signed report), how data is handled and returned, how rework from late data is priced and whether the partner works to your template. Ask for a sample exceptions list. Choose on the answers, and check any credential claim against the IRS enrolled actuary listing or the Academy before you engage.

**Q: Do you handle ASC 715 work for accounting firms too?**

A: Yes. Year-end obligation, cost and disclosure tables are prepared for the signing actuary and your auditor. See [ASC 715 pension and OPEB valuations](/services/actuarial-services/asc-715-pension-opeb-valuations) for the deliverables and a sample table.

Related services:
- [Insurance rate making and pricing support](https://finbryn.com/us/services/actuarial-services/insurance-rate-making-pricing-support)
- [Cash balance and defined benefit plan valuation support](https://finbryn.com/us/services/actuarial-services/cash-balance-defined-benefit-plans)
- [ASC 715 pension and OPEB accounting valuations](https://finbryn.com/us/services/actuarial-services/asc-715-pension-opeb-valuations)
- [White-label bookkeeping](https://finbryn.com/us/services/for-accounting-firms/white-label-bookkeeping)
- [Actuarial review support for audit teams](https://finbryn.com/us/services/actuarial-services/auditor-specialist-actuarial-review-for-firms)

## Sources

1. [eCFR, 20 CFR 901.2 Enrolled actuaries: who may perform ERISA actuarial services](https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-20/part-901) (2026-10-02)
2. [IRS, Form 5500 Corner (due date, penalty under IRC 6058)](https://www.irs.gov/retirement-plans/form-5500-corner) (2026-10-02)
3. [DOL, IRS and PBGC, 2025 Instructions for Form 5500 (Schedule SB)](https://www.dol.gov/sites/dolgov/files/ebsa/employers-and-advisers/plan-administration-and-compliance/reporting-and-filing/form-5500/2025-instructions.pdf) (2026-10-02)
4. [PBGC, Premium Filing Instructions for 2026 plan years](https://www.pbgc.gov/sites/default/files/documents/2026-premium-payment-instructions.pdf) (2026-10-02)
5. [Actuarial Standards Board, ASOP No. 23 Data Quality](https://www.actuarialstandardsboard.org/asops/data-quality/) (2026-10-02)
6. [American Academy of Actuaries, US Qualification Standards](https://www.actuary.org/professionalism/us-qualification-standards/) (2026-10-02)
7. [IRS, Enrolled actuaries](https://www.irs.gov/tax-professionals/enrolled-actuaries) (2026-10-02)

Reviewed October 2026

[All services in Actuarial services](https://finbryn.com/us/services/actuarial-services)

## Contact
- Phone: +1 (312) 313-7376
- Email: hello@finbryn.com
- Booking page: https://finbryn.com/us/book