问题如下:
William Azarov is a portfolio manager for Westcome Investments, an asset management firm. Azarov is preparing for meetings with two of Westcome’s clients and obtains the help of Jason Boulder, a junior analyst. The first meeting is with Maglav Inc., a rapidly growing US-based technology firm with a young workforce and high employee turnover. Azarov directs Boulder to review the details of Maglav’s defined benefit (DB) pension plan. The plan is overfunded and has assets under management of $25 million. Boulder makes the following two observations:
Observation 1 Maglav’s shareholders benefit from the plan’s overfunded status.
Observation 2 The funded ratio of Maglav’s plan will decrease if employee turnover decreases.
Which of Boulder’s observations regarding Maglav’s pension plan is correct?
选项:
A.Only Observation 1
Only Observation 2
Both Observation 1 and Observation 2
解释:
C is correct.
Both observations are correct. For a corporate defined benefit plan, Maglav’s shareholders are stakeholders. These stakeholders are interested in the sustainability of the pension plan, and the overfunded status is an asset on the balance sheet, potentially increasing the value of Maglav’s stock. The overfunded status also allows management to potentially lower employer contributions to the plan and increase net income. It also lowers financial risk, which may reduce volatility in the stock price. In addition, decreasing employee turnover will increase plan liabilities and worsen the funded ratio. With high turnover, fewer workers will be vested and entitled to defined benefit payments. Conversely, if employee turnover decreases, expected vesting will increase, leading to higher plan liabilities and a lower funded ratio.
难道不是如果公司长期overfunded, 公司的shareholder 其实投入更多,是不好的吗?不是维持平衡的Pension account最好?