This article explores the influence of the pension system on corporate governance, which has so far received little attention in the corporate law literature. While the shareholder-centric view of corporate governance is strong today, this is a relatively recent development. “Managerial...

We investigate the role of pensions as an element of total executive compensation, and the relationship between pensions and performance-based compensation in executive pay. Using hand-collected data on FTSE 100 CEOs and senior executives from 2004-2011, we document that pensions function as a...

This paper is about public sector pensions, an issue that has become increasingly contentious in a number of countries in recent years, including in the United Kingdom. In the UK the public debate has focussed on the perceived generosity of these pensions, which, it is often claimed, contrasts...

This paper studies the elimination of traditional pensions and subsequent adoption of 401(k) plans by U.S. employers. Using thousands of firm-level natural experiments, it shows that unexpected losses in future compensation engendered by pension plan transitions induce premature retirement for...

This Article explores the influence of the pension system on corporate governance, which has so far received little attention in the corporate law literature. While the shareholder-centric view of corporate governance is strong today, this is a relatively recent development. “Managerial...

In recent decades, management modes for pension obligations has been coevolving with political and financial economic strategies aimed to prompt and promote active financial markets and institutional investors, as well as transnational harmonisation and convergence of accounting standards...

The discount rate represents a critical choice in accounting for corporate defined-benefit pension plans due to the long-term nature of pension liabilities. U.S. GAAP and IFRS mandate the AA corporate bond rate. Their requirement is subject to much debate, with the risk-free rate and the...

Leverage ratios, the ratio of a firm's debt to equity or assets, is a frequently used measure of firm risk, utilized by firms, analysts, and investors. However, pension and other post-retirement benefits (OPRB) are largely ignored in determining a firm's total liabilities. Similarly, pension and...

We investigate how deftned beneftt pension schemes of FTSE ftrms are valued by the equity market, focusing on how future liabilities are discounted (since UK data allows us to estimate the duration of pension liabilities fairly accurately). We ftnd that equity market valuation is consistent with...

This paper analyses pension accounting choice in Germany for firms using IFRS or US GAAP. It shows that firms choose the pension discount rate and the treatment of actuarial gains and losses in order to smooth the effect of inherently volatile pension numbers. Pension discount rates for German...