Document and Records Management

Plan and Trust Documents

All retirement and deferred compensation plans must, as a requirement of applicable law, be set forth in writing and must contain provisions that comply with the requirements of applicable governing legislation and regulations. Plan documents may be based on pre-approved 'prototypes' or 'volume submitter' instruments or, in some cases may be 'individually designed'. For most smaller organizations, prototype and volume submitter documents offer significant economies of scale. However, it is important to know that certain types of plans must be individually designed and, depending on employer circumstances and characteristics, prototype or volume submitter documents may not be appropriate. This is a subject for discussion with client's legal counsel.

Spectrum makes available and prepares pre-approved plan and trust documents for most types of plans, for the convenience of clients and review by clients' legal counsel. Spectrum also monitors plan activity and changes in legislation or regulations mandating changes to plan documents. When employer circumstances or changes in law warrant amendments to plan documents, Spectrum provides plan amendments or restatements for review by client's legal counsel and execution by clients and trustees.

As a part of its document management service, Spectrum also prepares ancillary documents, Summary Plan Descriptions, and a comprehensive Administration manual.

Records Maintenance

Spectrum maintains complete copies of all plan records, including: plan and trust documents; employee census and contribution records; enrollment and distribution documentation; asset statements; trust statements; reports and correspondence; and participant records. Copies of documents and reports are routinely provided to clients for their own files. Most documents and records for current clients are maintained for at least ten years.

Document and Records Retention

During the course of Spectrum's engagement by clients, Spectrum will routinely produce drafts of work papers and reports before producing final versions. Spectrum does not generally retain drafts of work papers or reports after final copies are produced. For inactive clients, all final records will be retained for a period of seven years, as required by law or, as applicable, standards of professional conduct. After that time, Spectrum may, at its sole discretion, destroy such records. Inactive clients are defined as those for whom Spectrum has not provided any services for a period of 18 or more months. Inactive clients may request complete copies of all documents and records retained by Spectrum, except Spectrum's proprietary work papers, within seven years of the date that Spectrum last provided any services to such client. Spectrum will comply with such requests, provided client agrees to reimburse for costs associated with making copies and transmittal to client.