Discretion in accounting for pensions under IAS 19: using the ‘magic telescope’?
We use a panel data set of UK-listed companies over the period 2005 to 2009 to analyse the actuarial assumptions used to value pension plan liabilities under IAS 19. The valuation process requires companies to make assumptions about financial and demographic variables, notably discount rate, price i...
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| Format: | Article |
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Taylor and Francis Group
2016
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| Online Access: | https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/38456/ |
| _version_ | 1848795615817891840 |
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| author | Billings, Mark O'Brien, Christopher Woods, Margaret Vencappa, Dev |
| author_facet | Billings, Mark O'Brien, Christopher Woods, Margaret Vencappa, Dev |
| author_sort | Billings, Mark |
| building | Nottingham Research Data Repository |
| collection | Online Access |
| description | We use a panel data set of UK-listed companies over the period 2005 to 2009 to analyse the actuarial assumptions used to value pension plan liabilities under IAS 19. The valuation process requires companies to make assumptions about financial and demographic variables, notably discount rate, price inflation, salary inflation, and mortality/life expectancy of plan members/beneficiaries. We use regression analysis to analyse the relationships between these key assumptions (except mortality, where disclosures are limited) and company-specific factors such as the pension plan funding position and duration of pension liabilities. We find evidence of selective ‘management’ of the three assumptions investigated, although the nature of this appears to differ from the findings of US authors. We conclude that IAS 19 does not prevent the use of managerial discretion, particularly by companies whose pension plan funding positions are weak, thereby reducing the representational faithfulness of the reported pension figures. We also highlight that the degree of discretion used reflects the extent to which IAS 19 defines how the assumptions are to be determined. We therefore suggest that companies should be encouraged to justify more explicitly their choice of assumptions. |
| first_indexed | 2025-11-14T19:34:55Z |
| format | Article |
| id | nottingham-38456 |
| institution | University of Nottingham Malaysia Campus |
| institution_category | Local University |
| last_indexed | 2025-11-14T19:34:55Z |
| publishDate | 2016 |
| publisher | Taylor and Francis Group |
| recordtype | eprints |
| repository_type | Digital Repository |
| spelling | nottingham-384562020-05-04T18:02:04Z https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/38456/ Discretion in accounting for pensions under IAS 19: using the ‘magic telescope’? Billings, Mark O'Brien, Christopher Woods, Margaret Vencappa, Dev We use a panel data set of UK-listed companies over the period 2005 to 2009 to analyse the actuarial assumptions used to value pension plan liabilities under IAS 19. The valuation process requires companies to make assumptions about financial and demographic variables, notably discount rate, price inflation, salary inflation, and mortality/life expectancy of plan members/beneficiaries. We use regression analysis to analyse the relationships between these key assumptions (except mortality, where disclosures are limited) and company-specific factors such as the pension plan funding position and duration of pension liabilities. We find evidence of selective ‘management’ of the three assumptions investigated, although the nature of this appears to differ from the findings of US authors. We conclude that IAS 19 does not prevent the use of managerial discretion, particularly by companies whose pension plan funding positions are weak, thereby reducing the representational faithfulness of the reported pension figures. We also highlight that the degree of discretion used reflects the extent to which IAS 19 defines how the assumptions are to be determined. We therefore suggest that companies should be encouraged to justify more explicitly their choice of assumptions. Taylor and Francis Group 2016-07-11 Article PeerReviewed Billings, Mark, O'Brien, Christopher, Woods, Margaret and Vencappa, Dev (2016) Discretion in accounting for pensions under IAS 19: using the ‘magic telescope’? Accounting and Business Research . pp. 1-21. ISSN 0001-4788 Actuarial assumptions; IAS 19; Liability valuation; Managerial discretion http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/00014788.2016.1205967 doi:10.1080/00014788.2016.1205967 doi:10.1080/00014788.2016.1205967 |
| spellingShingle | Actuarial assumptions; IAS 19; Liability valuation; Managerial discretion Billings, Mark O'Brien, Christopher Woods, Margaret Vencappa, Dev Discretion in accounting for pensions under IAS 19: using the ‘magic telescope’? |
| title | Discretion in accounting for pensions under IAS 19: using the ‘magic telescope’? |
| title_full | Discretion in accounting for pensions under IAS 19: using the ‘magic telescope’? |
| title_fullStr | Discretion in accounting for pensions under IAS 19: using the ‘magic telescope’? |
| title_full_unstemmed | Discretion in accounting for pensions under IAS 19: using the ‘magic telescope’? |
| title_short | Discretion in accounting for pensions under IAS 19: using the ‘magic telescope’? |
| title_sort | discretion in accounting for pensions under ias 19: using the ‘magic telescope’? |
| topic | Actuarial assumptions; IAS 19; Liability valuation; Managerial discretion |
| url | https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/38456/ https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/38456/ https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/38456/ |