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Chapter 29

Pension Plan Management

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Topics in Chapter

Pension plan terminology Defined benefit versus defined

contribution plans Pension fund investment tactics Retiree health benefits

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How important are pension funds?

They constitute the largest class of investors.

They hold about 33% of all U. S. stocks.

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Pension Plan Terminology Defined benefit plan: Employer agrees

to give retirees a specific benefit, generally a percentage of final salary.

Defined contribution plan: Employer agrees to make specific payments into a retirement fund, frequently a mutual fund. Retirees’ benefits depend on the investment performance of their own fund. 401(k) is the most common type.

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Profit sharing plan: Employer payments vary with the firm’s profits. (Defined contribution, but as a percentage of profits).

Cash balance plan: Employer promises to put a specified percentage of the employee’s salary into the plan, and to pay a specified return on the plan’s assets.

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Vesting: Gives the employee the right to receive pension benefits at retirement even if he/she leaves the company before retirement.

Deferred vesting: Pension rights are not vested for the first few years.

Portability: A “portable” pension plan can be moved to another employer if the employee changes jobs.

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Fully funded: Value of plan assets equals the present value of expected retirement benefits.

Underfunded: Plan assets are less than the PV of the benefits. An “unfunded liability” is said to exist.

Overfunded: The reverse of underfunded.

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Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA): The federal law governing the administration and structure of corporate pension plans.

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Pension Benefit Guarantee Corporation (PBGC): A government agency created by ERISA to

ensure that employees of firms which go bankrupt before their defined benefit plans are fully funded will receive some minimum level of benefits.

However, for high income employees (i.e., airline pilots), PBGC pension payments are often less than those promised by the company.

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Pension Funds and Financial Reporting

Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB), together with the SEC, establishes rules for reporting pension information.

Pension costs are huge, and assumptions have major effect on reported profits.

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Defined Contribution Plan: The annual contribution is shown as a

cost on the income statement. A note explains the entry.

Defined Benefit Plan: The plan’s funding status must be

reported directly on the balance sheet.

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The annual pension contribution (expense) is shown on the income statement.

Details regarding the annual expense, along with the composition of the fund’s assets, are reported in the notes section.

The annual pension contribution is tied to the assumed actuarial rate of return: the greater the assumed return, the smaller the contribution.

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Annual Contributions for Full Funding

Data/Assumptions: Employee begins work at 25, will work

40 years until 65, and then retire. Employee will live another 15 years,

to age 80, and will draw a pension of $20,000 per year.

The plan’s actuarial rate of return is 10%.

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Additional Real World Complexities. Don’t know how long the employee will

work for the firm (the 40 years). Don’t know what the annual pension

payment will be (the $20,000). Don’t know what rate of return the

pension fund will earn (the 10%). A large number of employees creates

complexities, but it also reduces the aggregate actuarial uncertainty.

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Risks Borne by Plan Sponsor and Plan Beneficiaries

Defined benefit plan: Most risk falls on the company, because it guarantees to pay a specific retirement benefit regardless of the firm’s profitability or the return on the plan’s assets.

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Defined contribution plan: Places more risk on employees, because benefits depend on the return performance of each employee’s chosen investment fund.

Profit sharing: Most risk to employee, least to employer. Company doesn’t pay into fund unless it has earnings, and employees bear investment risk.

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Cash balance: “Middle of the road” in terms of risk for both employer and employee. Employer’s payment obligations are fixed and known, while employees are guaranteed a specified return.

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Pension Plans and EmployeeTraining Costs?

Defined benefit plans encourage employees to stay with a single company, hence they reduce training costs.

Vesting and portability facilitate job shifts, hence increase training costs.

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Pension Plans and Union Conflicts at Financially Distressed Firms

Benefits paid under defined benefit plans are usually tied to the number of years worked and the final (or last few) year’s salary. Therefore, unions are more likely to work with a firm to ensure its survival under a defined benefit plan.

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Rising Costs of Retiree Health Benefits

Because of the increased number of retirees, longer life expectancies, and the dramatic escalation in health care costs over the last ten years, many firms are forecasting that retiree health care costs will be as high, or higher, than pension costs.

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How are retiree health benefitsreported to shareholders?

Before 1990, firms used pay-as-you-go procedures which concealed the true liability.

Now companies must set up reserves for retiree medical benefits.

Firms must report current expenses to account for vested future medical benefits.

The 1990 rule has forced companies to assess their retiree health care liability. Many are now cutting benefits.