A regulatory tsunami is headed toward companies sponsoring 401(k) plans. it will arrive next year when new federal rules take effect, creating an unprecedented burden of accountability for employers.

More than ever, employers will be required to assure that fees associated with these plans are reasonable for the services being provided. to do so, they should move expeditiously to determine and evaluate all plan fees.

Employers are already required to exercise this due diligence by the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974. Yet the fees charged by large financial institutions providing 401(k) plans vary widely and are extremely difficult for employers and employees to ascertain. many aren’t aware that their fees may be too high because, until now, the government hasn’t required plan providers to voluntarily disclose all fees.

Nevertheless, by entering into arrangements with plan providers that involve unreasonably high fees, many employers have been failing to protect participating employees as required by ERISA. to remedy this lack of compliance and to help employees make more informed investing choices, the U.S. Department of Labor has issued the new rules, which reinforce and expand employers’ existing responsibilities as plan sponsors.

Effective in 2012, these rules will open up new terrain for potential federal fines — as the DOL is substantially increasing its investigative staff — as well as lawsuits from employees. this liability stems from employers’ role as plan fiduciaries, a regulatory/legal status meaning that they must consistently put plans’ and participants’ financial interests ahead of their own.

The new rules require plan providers to disclose fees to employees in chart format in quarterly statements. currently, these statements show investment returns net of fees, so employees don’t know how much they’re paying plan providers or investment companies that supply products for their plans.

Though the rules require plan providers to disclose fees in an easily understandable format, there are indications that the revised account statements may turn out to be long, confusing documents — something on the order of a prospectus. Confusion will ensue, and employees will queue up at HR to ask what it all means.

After making sure employees understand the newly required disclosures — which is, itself, a fiduciary responsibility — employers will undoubtedly be lambasted with bitter complaints from employees who were unaware of the amounts of fees being deducted from their accounts and others who simply thought their actual investment returns were lower.

Accordingly, it’s imperative that employers act now to “X-ray” their plans or engage a qualified consultant for that purpose, so they understand precisely what fees are being charged for the services being provided. this will involve reviewing reams of plan documents and confronting plan providers to ascertain fee information.

But that’s only the beginning. The tsunami’s force is amplified by the “reasonableness” requirement: how can employers know whether fees are reasonable?

To do so, they must determine where their plans’ fees fall relative to industry norms, so employers must benchmark fees against the full spectrum of the national market for plans of the same size providing the same services. These data-intensive comparisons can be highly complex, especially for small firms that lack the necessary expertise in-house.

The new rules also put increased pressure on sponsoring employers to assure that anyone advising 401(k) plans or participating employees is a fiduciary. ERISA rules have long prohibited non-fiduciaries, including brokers, from advising employees on the suitability of specific investments — a scenario rife with potential conflicts of interest.

Yet, because of lax enforcement that the government is now trying to repair, brokers typically play a dominant role in servicing 401(k) plans. By contrast, fiduciaries — who must avoid even the appearance of conflicts — must comply with stringent regulatory standards that don’t apply to brokers. Moreover, fiduciary advisors are subject to substantially greater legal liability.

Hence, the new DOL rules require employers to determine whether plan consultants are fiduciaries. If they aren’t, fiduciary responsibility — and liability — for the plan resides with the employer.

Companies that proactively get out in front of the tsunami by lining their corporate doorsteps with due diligence sandbags will minimize the damage. they have no time to waste.

Anthony Kippins is president of Retirement Plan Advisors LLC, a Cincinnati-based financial services company that provides retirement plan fiduciary services and employee benefit solutions to small companies. he is an Accredited Investment Fiduciary Analyst.