As employers re-examine pension costs and employees increasingly wonder how much they'll receive when they retire, the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) is going to be looking at new reporting rules.
The Norwalk, Conn.-based group is expected to come up with an accounting standard by the end of 2006 that will require companies to report the financial impact of pension-plan under-funding or over-funding on their balance sheets. Currently, such information appears in a financial footnote.
Longer term, the board will consider such questions as how best to recognize in company financial statements the costs of providing post-retirement benefits and to account for lump-sum payment options.
