Advantages of a continuous death audit

A common risk area for pension plan sponsors is overpayment due to an annuitant’s death. Almost all pension plans offer a variety of payment options, which typically end at the time the annuitant dies. If a payment continues after the required end date without knowledge of the plan sponsor, funds are being improperly disbursed. The longer the death goes unreported or undiscovered, the greater the overpayment and the more difficult it will be to recover. This article illustrates the advantages of using a “continuous death audit” approach with access to the U.S. federal government’s Death Master File database for the earliest possible detection of deceased annuitants, and discusses how this approach provides far better results than the traditional methods of death reporting.