25 pages. Excerpt: [T]he author analyzes the new minimum pension funding rules and the new restricted benefit rules (which also affect a defined benefit plan's qualification status) enacted by PPA '06, effective beginning in 2008. As noted in a recent report by the Government Accountability Office, many employers are responding to these rules by freezing benefit accruals for existing and/or new entrants under the plan. Coupled with these new rules, the Financial Accounting Standards Board has introduced a new accounting reporting requirement that will have important financial effects for plan sponsors of underfunded single-employer defined benefit plans. Attorneys and actuaries alike are responding to these challenges by offering a variety of strategies for plan sponsors. These requirements and the responding strategies have been summarized at the end of this article.  MORE >>