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Determinants of Funding Strategies and Actuarial Choices for Defined†Benefit Pension Plans

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  • SHARAD ASTHANA

Abstract

This paper examines the effects of firms' financial and pension profiles on their funding strategies and actuarial choices. The paper uses reports filed by individual pension plans with the Department of Labor under the requirements of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 for the analysis. Evidence reported in the paper shows that as firms become overfunded, they make conservative actuarial choices to avoid visibility costs, and that as firms become underfunded, they make liberal actuarial choices to avoid visibility costs. As the annual contributions increase relative to the permissible contribution ranges, firms make conservative actuarial choices to minimize penalties and maximize tax benefits. As the annual contributions decrease relative to the permissible contribution ranges, firms make liberal actuarial choices to minimize penalties and maximize tax benefits. The larger the profitability, cash flow from operations, and tax liability, and the smaller the debt of a firm, the higher the likelihood that the firm's managers will make conservative actuarial choices to maximize contributions. Conversely, the smaller the profitability, cash flow from operations, and tax liability, and the larger the debt of a firm, the higher the likelihood that the firm's managers will make liberal actuarial choices to minimize contributions. This evidence, which is consistent with the hypothesis of funding management, can aid the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) in regulating the defined†benefit pension plans more effectively and help plan beneficiaries to manage their retirement portfolios more efficiently. The debiasing method developed in the paper can provide investors and creditors with the tools to identify the discretionary components of pension liabilities and thereby value firms more efficiently.

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  • Sharad Asthana, 1999. "Determinants of Funding Strategies and Actuarial Choices for Defined†Benefit Pension Plans," Contemporary Accounting Research, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 16(1), pages 39-74, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:wly:coacre:v:16:y:1999:i:1:p:39-74
    DOI: 10.1111/j.1911-3846.1999.tb00574.x
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    Cited by:

    1. Denise A. Jones, 2013. "Changes in the Funded Status of Retirement Plans after the Adoption of SFAS No. 158: Economic Improvement or Balance Sheet Management," Contemporary Accounting Research, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 30(3), pages 1099-1132, September.
    2. Fried, Abraham & Davis-Friday, Paquita & Davis, Harry Z., 2014. "The impact of duration on management's discount rate choice," Research in Accounting Regulation, Elsevier, vol. 26(2), pages 217-221.
    3. Michaelides, Alexander & Papakyriakou, Panayiotis & Milidonis, Andreas, 2019. "Corporate Pension Plan Funding Levels and Pension Assumptions," CEPR Discussion Papers 13591, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    4. Tobias Witter & Thorsten Sellhorn & Jens Müller & Vicky Kiosse, 2022. "Balance sheet smoothing," Berlin School of Economics Discussion Papers 0006, Berlin School of Economics.
    5. Guohui Guan & Zongxia Liang & Yi Xia, 2023. "Optimal management of DB pension fund under both underfunded and overfunded cases," Papers 2302.08731, arXiv.org.
    6. Divya Anantharaman, 2017. "The role of specialists in financial reporting: Evidence from pension accounting," Review of Accounting Studies, Springer, vol. 22(3), pages 1261-1306, September.
    7. Anantharaman, Divya & Henderson, Darren, 2021. "Contrasting the information demands of equity- and debt-holders: Evidence from pension liabilities," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 71(2).
    8. Chaudhry, Neeru & Au Yong, Hue Hwa & Veld, Chris, 2017. "Tax avoidance in response to a decline in the funding status of defined benefit pension plans," Journal of International Financial Markets, Institutions and Money, Elsevier, vol. 48(C), pages 99-116.
    9. Luca Larcher & Francis Breedon, 2020. "Discounting and the market valuation of defined benefit pensions," Working Papers 932, Queen Mary University of London, School of Economics and Finance.
    10. Tim V. Eaton & John R. Nofsinger & Abhishek Varma, 2014. "Institutional Investor Ownership and Corporate Pension Transparency," Financial Management, Financial Management Association International, vol. 43(3), pages 603-630, September.
    11. Denise A. Jones, 2014. "When Do Companies Fund Their Defined Benefit Pension Plans?," Accounting & Taxation, The Institute for Business and Finance Research, vol. 6(1), pages 13-23.
    12. Shaw, Kenneth W. & Whitworth, James D., 2022. "Client importance and unconditional conservatism in complex accounting estimates," Advances in accounting, Elsevier, vol. 58(C).
    13. Geoffrey P. Martin & Robert M. Wiseman & Luis R. Gomez-Mejia, 2020. "The Ethical Dimension of Equity Incentives: A Behavioral Agency Examination of Executive Compensation and Pension Funding," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 166(3), pages 595-610, October.
    14. Kyongsun Heo & Jinhan Pae, 2021. "Pension Funding Regulations and Actuarial Gains and Losses," Australian Accounting Review, CPA Australia, vol. 31(1), pages 35-50, March.
    15. Jun Cai & Yiyi Qin & Anxing Wang, 2018. "Earnings, Mergers And Acquisitions Under Pension Disclosure Standards," Advances in Decision Sciences, Asia University, Taiwan, vol. 22(1), pages 137-179, December.
    16. Kwanghee Cho & YoungJun Kim & Sang Kyoo Yoon, 2014. "How Actuarial Assumptions Affect Defined Benefit Obligations under International Financial Reporting Standards. Evidence from Korea," Australian Accounting Review, CPA Australia, vol. 24(3), pages 255-261, September.
    17. Fried, Abraham N. & Davis-Friday, Paquita Y., 2013. "Economic consequences of mandatory GAAP changes: The case of SFAS No. 158," Advances in accounting, Elsevier, vol. 29(2), pages 186-194.
    18. Qin, Yiyi & Cai, Jun & Rhee, S. Ghon, 2021. "Do Japanese firms systematically inflate expected rate of returns from defined benefit pension plans?," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 68(C).
    19. Anantharaman, Divya & Lee, Yong Gyu, 2014. "Managerial risk taking incentives and corporate pension policy," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 111(2), pages 328-351.
    20. Masaki KUSANO, 2022. "Recognition versus Disclosure and Managerial Discretion: Evidence from Japanese Pension Accounting," Discussion papers e-22-008, Graduate School of Economics , Kyoto University.
    21. Martin Glaum & Tobias Keller & Donna L. Street, 2018. "Discretionary accounting choices: the case of IAS 19 pension accounting," Accounting and Business Research, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 48(2), pages 139-170, February.
    22. Maines, Laureen A., 2008. "Spotlight on pensions," Business Horizons, Elsevier, vol. 51(2), pages 105-111.
    23. Jan Faßhauer & Martin Glaum & Tobias Keller & Donna L. Street, 2011. "Erfassungsmethoden für versicherungsmathematische Gewinne und Verluste nach IAS 19: Motive der Wahl-rechtsentscheidung europäischer Unternehmen," Schmalenbach Journal of Business Research, Springer, vol. 63(8), pages 774-809, December.

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