Most small-business retirement plans file the Form 5500-SF — the short form. It satisfies the Department of Labor, but it is deliberately thin: it omits the schedules, most importantly Schedule C, that would show who is paid out of plan assets and how much. That opacity is why the short form is the norm for small plans.
From the 5500-SF alone, we can confirm one thing outright: whether the plan reports feature code 2R on line 9a of that short form (line 8a on the full Form 5500). That code means the plan offers a self-directed brokerage window — the door that lets money be managed outside the preset fund menu. If 2R is absent, every dollar in the plan is confined to the preset menu, including the owner's largest balance, with no way to respond to changing markets inside the plan.
The other two tells — who actually pays the plan's fees, and who the named fiduciary is — do not appear on the short form. We surface them by pointing the owner to the right documents: the 408(b)(2) fee disclosure and the plan document or adoption agreement. The review shows the owner exactly what to ask for and what the answer means.
The CPA handoff is simple: the owner gives us the company name, we pull the public filing, and we deliver the same one-page review we would send any owner — one confirmed finding, two clear questions, and where to look. The page you forward, written for the owner, says exactly this in their language: what 2R is, what the fees and the named-fiduciary question mean for them personally, and what comes back — and it lets them request the review on the spot. For a step-by-step guide to reading the filing yourself, see How to Read Your Own Form 5500.
The review is the review. We do not use it to corner the owner into a product demonstration or an investment-management proposal. If the owner wants to talk about next steps, that conversation happens separately and only at their request.
We are not auditing the plan, certifying the tax treatment, or opining on the financial statements. We are reading one public filing and flagging what an owner should notice. You remain the owner’s accountant and advisor for everything else.
The review describes what the filing says and what it may imply. It does not create an attorney-client relationship, render an ERISA legal opinion, or provide tax advice. Owners with legal or compliance questions should speak with qualified counsel.
Send them glacierwealth.com/plan-review-for-owners — a page written for the owner, not for you. It explains why the review is worth their time and lets them request it there.
The owner submits the company name and contact information through the request form. We do not need access to their plan documents or books.
We send the written review directly to the owner and copy you if the owner agrees. You stay informed without doing the reading yourself.
If you prefer, you can also make the introduction by email and we will take it from there. We will never contact the owner without a clear invitation.
No. We pull the Form 5500-SF from the Department of Labor’s public EFAST2 database. We do not need plan statements, participant data, or privileged information.
That is common. The review is non-binding and educational. An owner with an existing advisor can use it as a second opinion or simply as a better understanding of the document they already sign.
The owner spends about two minutes requesting the review. We typically return the written review within two business days.
Yes. The guide at How to Read Your Own Form 5500 shows exactly what we look for and why it matters.
Forward the owner their own page, or send us an introduction and we will handle the rest.
Latest thinking
20 August 2026 · 4 min read
Why owner-led plans in the Flathead get neglectedIt is rarely indifference. It is that the plan was installed once, by someone who has not been back, and nobody in the building was ever given a reason to look.
19 August 2026 · 5 min read
Who is really paying your plan's feesIf no invoice ever crosses your desk, the plan's costs are not free. They are coming out of participant accounts — and yours is usually the largest.
18 August 2026 · 4 min read
What a brokerage window actually means for your planCode 2R tells you a self-directed brokerage window is available. It does not tell you whether anyone is using it, or whether the preset menu is still doing the work.
Further reading
What an independent read of your plan covers, what it costs, and what you get back.
The public filing every plan makes, and the three entries worth your fifteen minutes.
Indirect compensation, revenue sharing, and why the owner's account usually absorbs the largest share.
The prudent expert standard, the duty to monitor providers, and the personal liability that does not stop at the corporate form.
Fee-only investment counsel since 2001, with the regulator records to check it against.
Written by Edward G. Rainford, AIF® · GlacierWealth, Whitefish, Montana