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Looking Into the FASB’s Crystal Ball: What’s Ahead for Liability Measurement?
Last year, the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) issued Statement of Financial Accounting Standards (SFAS) 158, bringing the first phase of the FASB’s accounting reforms for pensions and other postretirement benefits to a close. Phase One moved market-based measures of funded status from the footnotes of sponsors’ financial statements to the balance sheets.
Many important issues were left for Phase Two, including the determination of expense, liability measurement and balance sheet consolidation. Phase Two will essentially rebuild the foundation of pension accounting. As plan sponsors and their advisers are completing the implementation of Phase One, this article, the second in a planned series about Phase Two, focuses on liability measurement.
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Some 2007 Proxy Statements Falling Short of New SEC Guidelines
In a recent speech before the Corporate Counsel Institute, Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Chairman Christopher Cox warned filers that enforcement of the SEC’s plain-English requirement for proxy statements will become increasingly strict during the coming year, although the commission is granting filers some leeway during the transition. The SEC adopted new rules last year to give investors a clearer and more complete picture of executive compensation. DOL Issues Final Regulations on Timing of QDROs
As required under the Pension Protection Act of 2006, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) recently issued interim final regulations to clarify the qualified status of domestic relations orders (DROs). A qualified domestic relations order (QDRO) assigns all or part of a participant’s retirement benefits to a spouse, former spouse, child or other dependent. Congress Considers Mental Health Parity Legislation
The House and Senate are considering bills that would expand the mental health parity requirements in current law. The existing Mental Health Parity Act of 1996 prevents group health plans from imposing lower annual or lifetime dollar limits on mental health benefits than on medical/surgical benefits. Social Security — The Fate of the 1983 Long-Term Solution and the Lessons for Future Reform
The federal government last tried to restore long-term financial solvency to Social Security 24 years ago. The Social Security Amendments of 1983 were supposed to make Social Security fiscally sound for the next 75 years. This article discusses why the 1983 amendments did not deliver the long-term solution policymakers were hoping for and how future reforms can avoid the same fate.
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