Pension Accounting: Funding Costs And Liabilities Of Corporate Pension Plans

Abstract

Overall, pension plan assets analyzed in this study appear strong. They have excellent overall funding and unfunded vested liabilities would require less time to fund currently than in 1978. Pension expense per employee have been increasing, but at very nominal rates. And although the companies with the highest profits may not be the companies with the highest pension expenses, average pension expenses for most categories decreased. Currently unfunded vested liabilities are low relative to both pre-tax profits and net worth. Again, a number of points should be kept in mind when looking at these analysis and trends. Industry categories had small sample sizes. The sample sizes increase when companies are lumped into ranking categories making the data more representative. The overall trends include sample sizes of approximately 90, an acceptable number for statistical analysis. Also, some of the trends could be clouded by definitions of assets, liabilities, and income which differ from the 1978 study. However, after examining basic similarities between the studies and noting the strength of certain trends, the above mentioned conclusions appear warranted.