Is There a Pension Plan Crisis? The Perspectives, Reactions and Strategies of Canadian CFOs

The current shortfall in pension plan funding has attracted considerable media attention. But how do organizations really view the crisis? Is There a Pension Plan Crisis? The Perspectives, Reactions and Strategies of Canadian CFOs reports on a survey designed to find out what chief financial officers think.

Document Highlights

Are current pension plan shortfalls the dark cloud on the corporate horizon? Or are the gloomy media reports simply an overreaction to a normal, but severe, downturn in pension plan returns? Is There a Pension Plan Crisis? The Perspectives, Reactions and Strategies of Canadian CFOs presents the results of a survey designed to shed light on this issue. Conducted in early 2004, the survey of 68 chief financial officers (CFOs) explored their personal perspectives on and their organizations’ responses to key issues related to pension funds (including the severity, duration and impact of the crisis), regulatory and plan changes required to alleviate the current troubles, communication with investment analysts and top pension fund–related challenges. As well as detailing the survey’s results, the report offers insight into how CFOs view the pension plan and post-retirement benefit plan burden facing Canadian corporations, whether they sponsor defined-benefit or defined-contribution arrangements or combinations of the two.