Description: The purpose of this paper is to discuss modified cost methods that have been proposed for small-plan valuations, The first portion of the paper deals with criteria for choosing a cost method. The next portions deal with small-plan characteristics and the potential shortcomings of conventional cost methods when applied to these plans. The final portion discusses two classes of modified cost methods that have been proposed for circumventing these shortcomings. From Transactions of Society of Actuaries 1983, Vol. 35.

Description: This research report discusses the effect a variation in the interest rate assumption has on a defined benefit plan's costs. From Transactions of Society of Actuaries 1967, Vol. 19, No. 55.

Description: This paper describes the actuarial valuation method for pension plans, the formulas and assumptions used, and the way these assumptions might be chosen. A case study is presented. Followed by several discussion papers submitted

Description: This paper considers a typical retirement endowment plan where an endowment provides for a monthly payment at retirement and units of life insurance prior to retirement and which the amounts of insurance in later years are net level premium reserves. From Transactions of Society of Actuaries 1961, Vol. 13, No. 37.

Description: This paper uses a Bayesian approach to persistency to explore retirement cost projection variability. The analysis is divided into two parts. In the first part a subjective population projection model is developed, based on a beta-binomial distribution for the number of participants persisting through a given age. Probability statements regarding such items as the number of participants at a given age and the distribution of retirees are developed. The second part shows how the model might be used to generate confidence intervals for retirement cost projections. Both the single-entry-age case and the multiple-entry-age case are considered. From Transactions of Society of Actuaries 1979, Vol. 31.

Description: The basic goal of this paper is to develop a generalized statement of aggregate actuarial cost methods and relate to it certain ideas developed by Trowbridge, Nesbitt, and others. A secondary goal is to describe practical methods which bear the same relationship to unit credit funding that the 'usual' forms of frozen initial liability and aggregate bear to entry age normal funding. From Transactions of Society of Actuaries 1967, Vol. 19, Pt. 1, No. 53 AB.

Description: The purpose of this paper is to describe an actuarially acceptable and mathematically definitive method for allocating gains by source. Followed by a discussion paper submitted

Description: This paper addresses how to explain yearly fluctuations and computed pension cost in terms of deviations of actual from expected experience. It presents a method for deriving gain-an-loss analysis formulas directly from the valuation formulas and shows that the analysis is implicitly defined by the valuation formulas, rather than something which can be considered apart from them. This method can be used to attack both individual and aggregate cost methods and the development of exact analysis formulas provides not only the basis for computation but also valuable insight into the mechanisms by which cost methods adjust computed costs to reflect actual experience.

Description: An extension of a paper published in the 1952 Transactions by the same author, describing and classifying various funding methods for defined benefit pension plans. Followed by discussion papers submitted by several authors.

Description: In the determination of pension costs the actuary normally has available for use several turnover scales which indicate rates of turnover by attained age. This paper attempts to outline broadly one method for classifying selected industries into three groups approximating low, medium, and high turnover levels, so that a more appropriate initial selection of turnover scales may be facilitated. From Transactions of Society of Actuaries 1968, Vol. 20, Pt. 1, No. 58.