| The Whole Truth |
21 July 2003
|
FASB Pension Rules Opposed by FEI
Financial Executives International is a group purporting to represent senior finance executives, and it is
currently lobbying against a call by the Financial Accounting Standards Board for corporations to
provide more information about pension plans. The surprising thing is that there are any pension plans
left in America on which to report data. That said, the FEI's claim that they are trying to prevent
"disclosure overload" should set off alarm bells far and wide.
"The information that's currently disclosed is very complicated and we don't think very many people
understand it," said Dean Krogman, vice president of technical activities at FEI in a report by CNN. And
he is right. Thanks to the arcane nature of pension accounting and the dreadful job most developed
educational systems the world over do in teaching economics and finance, precious few people can
follow what is out there, and adding to it will not necessarily simplify matters.
The leap of (il)logic that Mr. Krogman makes, though, (that because not everyone can follow it, no one
should have the information) just doesn't hold water. The fact is that some people, mostly accountants,
do follow and understand the current numbers, and they want more -- hence, FASB's action.
Why would anyone want to deny these capable and interested accountants access to financial data
about pension funds and commitments? Mr. Krogman, quite plausibly, has said that the costs of
providing the data would outweigh the benefits. And he could well be right. But one suspects that the
costs would all fall on the firm's with pension fund commitments and the benefits would accrue to those
expecting retirement payments in the future and to shareholders who will have to make those payments.
Both sides deserve the information -- or rather, their accountants do.