Baker Tilly’s annual review process
Get prepared
- We request all documentation several weeks prior to in-person or virtual meetings.
- We review all information received to provide a comprehensive approach to the reporting process.
Baker Tilly review
The MERS annual report contains a review of the following standards as required by MERS:
- Written internal procedures are in place and designed to provide reasonable assurance that the member has submitted to MERSCORP Holdings data for all MERS system required and conditional reporting fields.
- Internal system-to-system reconciliations for all MERS system required and conditional reporting fields are conducted for each required reconciliation interval.
- Required and conditional data fields entered on the MERS system on behalf of the member match those values in the member’s record, and discrepancies and remediations are tracked on aging reports until cleared.
- Written internal procedures are in place and designed to provide reasonable assurance that the member is managing all reject/warning reports associated with registrations, transfers and status updates on open-item aging reports.
- Written internal procedures are in place that provide reasonable assurance of compliance with the requirements specified in the MERS System Rules of Membership and MERS System Procedures Manual applicable to MERS signing officers.
- Performance is monitored against the member’s quality assurance plan and the member has reviewed the plan at least annually for effectiveness and has revised and resubmitted an updated plan as necessary.
Post-review remediation
- In the post-review period, missing documents or additional information may be provided or updated.
- The results of the review are provided by Baker Tilly’s mortgage compliance group and reviewed with the member stakeholders. This includes:
– A post-review call
– Written report (draft)
– Discussion time and rebuttal to clean up any missing information
– Action planning to review the MERS standard not being met
Final report
The final report is provided to the member for review.
Once signed off, Baker Tilly will fulfill its part in the e-filing process of the annual report on behalf of the client.
Preparation and assessment practices from across the industry
Baker Tilly’s mortgage compliance team has built best practice assessments for its platform from other reviews and provide advisement on interpretations from MERSCORP Holdings. Your team benefits from exceptional insight and experience that will assist you in complying with your membership agreement.
