Jeff James, CPA

Experience

Jeff James is a Partner in the Assurance & Advisory practice of Frazier & Deeter and the National Practice Leader of the firm’s Employee Benefit Plan (EBP) Services. His areas of expertise encompass EBP audits and all tax and compliance matters related to compensation and employee benefits. Jeff has extensive experience with qualified plans, welfare benefit plans, nonqualified plans and executive compensation issues, supported by a solid understanding of ERISA, DOL and IRS requirements and compliance. He is further skilled in the correction of plan defects and reporting and disclosure in all areas of EBPs.

Given his strong ERISA expertise, audit knowledge and plan operations background, Jeff is able to support all aspects of public and private companies’ employee benefit plans. This full-service approach is complemented by his ability to provide consultation on the alignment of a plan’s compliance and structure with a company’s overall business strategy. Jeff has performed plan audit, review, tax and/or consulting services for over 800 companies, with plan asset bases ranging from $500,000 to $6Bn.

Before joining the firm, Jeff was the Director of the EBP Audit practice for the State of Florida for Ernst & Young. During his tenure at EY, Jeff was also a Senior Manager in the firm’s Human Capital Consulting practice. His combined audit, tax and consulting background made him the go-to individual nationally regarding operational issues discovered during plan audits. He is licensed in Florida, Georgia and Virginia. Jeff is an annual speaker at many EBP forums and seminars and is currently the President of the Atlanta Chapter of the ASPPA.