Description: The presenters will provide an update on discount rates developed from the expected return on assets used in going concern pension funding. They will include recent research on discount rates being used for U.S. public sector plans, U.S. Multiple Employer Pension Plans, and Ontario and British Columbia plans. A discussion of the emerging regulatory framework in Canada and the U.S. and changes to ASOP 4 and 27 will also be covered. Components of discount rates such as expenses and margins (PfADs) will also be covered.

Description: Abstract of paper that discusses a new funding method that would make the recommended contribution for funding purposes for public DB plans subject to an overriding minimum contribution OMC calculation.

Description: This article explores how differing sets of seemingly reasonable assumptions can provide materially different results in a pension valuation.

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: This 1981 discussion session focuses on funding policy for pension Plans in the United States and Canada from the plan sponsor's viewpoint. Topics include: 1.Alternative uses of cash, 2. Selection of the actuarial cost method, 3. Selection of actuarial assumptions, 4. External constraints such as regulatory constraints, labor agreements, accounting constraints and government contract reimbursement, 5. Use of projections and immunization theory, and 6. The effect of investment strategy on funding policy.

Description: This 1991 panel discussion: 1. Compares and contrasts standards set by various U.S and Canadian agencies- FASB, CICA, GASB, and IRS- for calculations under the Projected Unit Credit Cost Method, 2. Discusses certain types of retirement and ancillary benefits that are not easily handled under the Projected Unit Credit Cost Method, and 3. Provides insight into the nuances of using the Projected Unit Credit Cost Method for pension expense and funding purposes. From the Record of the Society of Actuaries Vol. 17, No. 3B.

Description: Discussion of competing theories for valuing public pension liabilities. Emphasis on revised Actuarial Standards of Practice that focus on the purpose of the measurement.

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: This paper demonstrates how, under the projected benefit cost methods whereby the gains are reflected in the normal cost rate, gains determined at a given valuation date are amortized over the future working lifetime of the active employees included in the valuation as of that date.