Alternatives to Wipfli LLP 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 Wipfli LLP for 401(k) plan audits?

Wipfli LLP audited 764 retirement plans in plan year 2024 across 42 states and territories (#14 nationally). Closest comparable practices by footprint and volume: Grant Thornton LLP and RSM US LLP; the table below lists 10 firms with linked profiles.

Wipfli LLP at a glance

Wipfli LLP: plan year 2024 Form 5500 audit engagements (for comparison)
Measure	Value
Retirement plan audits (401(k), 403(b), pension)	764
All audited filings (incl. welfare plans)	785
States and territories with clients	42
National rank by retirement plan volume	#14 of 3,956
Average client size (participants)	1,071
Largest client (participants)	45,105
Largest state concentrations	WI 306 · IL 73 · MN 63

Full profile, including opinion mix and largest audited plans: Wipfli LLP.

Audit firms comparable to Wipfli LLP

Peer practices by footprint overlap and engagement volume relative to Wipfli LLP, plan year 2024
#	Firm	Retirement plans audited	States served	States shared with Wipfli LLP	Footprint overlap	Avg. client size
1	Grant Thornton LLP	781	40	33	48%	5,006
2	RSM US LLP	954	45	37	45%	1,490
3	Crowe LLP	930	40	33	35%	4,730
4	Ernst & Young LLP	519	42	35	42%	21,834
5	Sikich CPA LLC	510	33	30	40%	822
6	Deloitte & Touche LLP	455	41	34	41%	14,274
7	Vrakas S.C.	166	9	9	56%	348
8	CohnReznick LLP	703	35	30	19%	1,862
9	BDO USA, P.C.	1,237	45	37	36%	3,242
10	CliftonLarsonAllen LLP	3,276	51	41	53%	1,502

Ordered by similarity to Wipfli LLP, not by size. Footprint overlap is the share of the two firms’ state distributions that coincide (100% = identical state mix). Candidates: firms with between 153 and 3,820 retirement plan audits (within 5× of Wipfli LLP’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

Wipfli LLP’s largest states and the comparable firms most active there, plan year 2024
State	Wipfli LLP plans	Comparable firms active in the state (plans audited)
Wisconsin	306	CliftonLarsonAllen LLP (347), Vrakas S.C. (135), Sikich CPA LLC (78)
Illinois	73	Sikich CPA LLC (228), CliftonLarsonAllen LLP (221), Crowe LLP (155)
Minnesota	63	CliftonLarsonAllen LLP (444), RSM US LLP (47), Grant Thornton LLP (32)
Colorado	38	BDO USA, P.C. (63), CliftonLarsonAllen LLP (37), Crowe LLP (13)
Pennsylvania	32	CliftonLarsonAllen LLP (152), BDO USA, P.C. (66), Grant Thornton LLP (50)

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 Wipfli LLP on two measures: footprint overlap — how closely its distribution of clients across states matches Wipfli LLP’s — and volume similarity — how close its engagement count is on a logarithmic scale. Candidates are first limited to a volume band around Wipfli LLP’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 Wipfli LLP. Filing data can contain sponsor-entered errors; corrections are welcome via the about page.