The Employee Benefit Security Administration doesn't agree but an audit by the Office of Inspector General concluded the agency is not providing enough oversight of ERISA retirement plans that invest in alternative investments.

The OIG conducted its audit because the Internal Revenue Service, General Accountability Office and American Institute of Certified Public Accountants expressed concern over how plan administrators were valuing plan assets — particularly alternative investments. An accurate valuation of plan assets, they said, "plays a critical role in determining plan funding levels and payments to participants and beneficiaries."

As of 2010, employee benefits plans had about $3 trillion invested in alternative investments. EBSA estimated between $800 billion and $1.1 trillion of that were in hard-to-value assets.

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