Pensions Remain at Top of Business Agenda: Findings From the 2006 Survey on Pension Risk

The pension plan crisis of recent years seems set to persist through 2007 and beyond. To track developments in this evolving issue, Signal49 Research recently conducted its third annual survey of senior executive opinion. The results, summarized in Pensions Remain at Top of Business Agenda, show that the proportion of chief financial officers (CFOs) who believe there is a defined benefit pension crisis in Canada continues to climb. Eighty per cent of CFOs who responded to the survey believe there is a widespread crisis, up from 59 per cent two years earlier. Key issues are managing cost volatility and solvency funding. For their part, vice-presidents of human resources worry that the crisis in defined benefit plans could compromise the ability of organizations to attract and retain top talent, especially in the long term.