Alternatives to Sikich CPA LLC for 401(k) Audits

Peer audit practices selected by overlapping state footprint and similar engagement volume, from plan year 2024 Form 5500 filings. A neutral comparison: no firm pays to appear, and listing is not a recommendation.

Last updated September 6, 2026 · Source data: plan year 2024 Form 5500 filings

Which firms are comparable to Sikich CPA LLC for 401(k) plan audits?

Sikich CPA LLC audited 510 retirement plans in plan year 2024 across 33 states and territories (#19 nationally). Closest comparable practices by footprint and volume: Smith & Howard, PC and Ernst & Young LLP; the table below lists 10 firms with linked profiles.

Sikich CPA LLC at a glance

Sikich CPA LLC: plan year 2024 Form 5500 audit engagements (for comparison)
Measure	Value
Retirement plan audits (401(k), 403(b), pension)	510
All audited filings (incl. welfare plans)	541
States and territories with clients	33
National rank by retirement plan volume	#19 of 3,956
Average client size (participants)	822
Largest client (participants)	14,962
Largest state concentrations	IL 228 · WI 78 · OH 61

Full profile, including opinion mix and largest audited plans: Sikich CPA LLC.

Audit firms comparable to Sikich CPA LLC

Peer practices by footprint overlap and engagement volume relative to Sikich CPA LLC, plan year 2024
#	Firm	Retirement plans audited	States served	States shared with Sikich CPA LLC	Footprint overlap	Avg. client size
1	Smith & Howard, PC	434	34	30	45%	736
2	Ernst & Young LLP	519	42	29	36%	21,834
3	Cherry Bekaert LLP	493	28	23	35%	1,255
4	Grant Thornton LLP	781	40	30	47%	5,006
5	Legacy Professionals LLP	167	16	15	60%	5,269
6	Deloitte & Touche LLP	455	41	29	31%	14,274
7	RSM US LLP	954	45	30	49%	1,490
8	Wipfli LLP	764	42	30	40%	1,071
9	Citrin Cooperman & Company, LLP	472	20	18	25%	905
10	Miller Cooper & Co., LTD	156	12	10	55%	765

Ordered by similarity to Sikich CPA LLC, not by size. Footprint overlap is the share of the two firms’ state distributions that coincide (100% = identical state mix). Candidates: firms with between 102 and 2,550 retirement plan audits (within 5× of Sikich CPA LLC’s volume). Average client size is the mean beginning-of-year participant count of the firm’s audited retirement plans.

Rankings derived from U.S. Department of Labor Form 5500 filings, plan year 2024. Read the full methodology.

Where the footprints overlap

Sikich CPA LLC’s largest states and the comparable firms most active there, plan year 2024
State	Sikich CPA LLC plans	Comparable firms active in the state (plans audited)
Illinois	228	RSM US LLP (151), Miller Cooper & Co., LTD (124), Grant Thornton LLP (112)
Wisconsin	78	Wipfli LLP (306), Grant Thornton LLP (52), RSM US LLP (44)
Ohio	61	RSM US LLP (62), Citrin Cooperman & Company, LLP (36), Ernst & Young LLP (29)
Michigan	19	Grant Thornton LLP (23), Wipfli LLP (19), Deloitte & Touche LLP (15)
Virginia	18	Cherry Bekaert LLP (68), Deloitte & Touche LLP (29), Grant Thornton LLP (27)

State reflects the plan sponsor’s address on Form 5500. Each state link opens the full ranked directory for that state.

How these alternatives were selected

Every firm in the dataset with at least 25 retirement plan audits in plan year 2024 was scored against Sikich CPA LLC on two measures: footprint overlap — how closely its distribution of clients across states matches Sikich CPA LLC’s — and volume similarity — how close its engagement count is on a logarithmic scale. Candidates are first limited to a volume band around Sikich CPA LLC’s count (widened only when fewer than 8 firms qualify), then ranked by a weighted score (60% footprint, 40% volume). Ties resolve by volume, then name. The result is deterministic and rebuilds identically from the same filings.

What the score does not measure: audit quality, fees, staffing, industry focus, or fit for your plan. Volume and footprint indicate which firms do this work at comparable scale in the same places; they are a shortlist, not a verdict. Use each profile’s opinion mix and client-size figures, then the questions in how to switch 401(k) auditors to compare on what matters — EBPAQC membership, peer review results, team continuity, and a like-for-like fee.

Comparable-firm tables for other leading practices

Alternatives pages exist for the 25 largest employee benefit plan audit practices by retirement plan volume in plan year 2024.

About this page

Generated from public U.S. Department of Labor Form 5500 filings in which each firm is named as the plan’s independent qualified public accountant. None of the firms shown supplied, reviewed, or endorsed this comparison, and inclusion is neither a recommendation nor a criticism of any firm, including Sikich CPA LLC. Filing data can contain sponsor-entered errors; corrections are welcome via the about page.