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April 14, 2004 - 13556 subscribers
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(Please visit our sponsors. We try to make sure their products and services will be of interest to you. Thanks! --Editor)
Overview: Pension Funding Equity Act of 2004 Provides Quarterly Contribution Relief (PDF)
2 pages. Excerpt: "This Compliance Bulletin focuses only on this quarterly contribution relief and the new interest rate methodology that may be used in determining whether quarterly contributions are required for 2004." (Prudential Retirement's Pension Analyst)

Highlights of American Benefits Council's Discussion with IRS on Relative Value Regulations (PDF)
2 pages. Excerpt: "The most significant concerns can be classified as (1) most valuable benefit issue, (2) 411(d)(6) issue, (3) retroactive annuity issue, and (4) the need for appropriate review time to avoid widespread compliance problems. These issues are described in more detail below." (American Benefits Council)

Solving the Pension Puzzle for Non-Profit Employers: Part 3
Excerpt: "Wanting to make contributions to its 10 employees' 403(b) plan, and recognizing that could require more work, the Connecticut Association of Nonprofits selected a 'bundled' plan.... The vendor, ING Retirement Plans, handles administration, and the association and employees can make contributions and changes online." (Philanthropy Journal)

PBGC Takes Over Hospital's Pension Plan
Excerpt: "A federal agency has taken responsibility for the pensions of more than 1,300 current and former workers and retirees at [New Rochelle, NY] Sound Shore Medical Center after the hospital had missed more than $22 million in contributions to the underfunded retirement plan." (TheJournalNews.com)

Mutual Funds to Disclose Timing Policies
Excerpt: "Mutual fund companies must disclose to shareholders their policies on the practice of market timing that is at the heart of many of the cases in the industrywide scandal, federal regulators decreed Tuesday." (AP via Washington Post; one-time registration required)

Mutual Fund Fees Hard to Decipher
Excerpt: "It's not easy being a mutual fund investor these days. So it is no surprise that 71 percent of non-retirement mutual fund investors seek advice, according to the Washington, D.C.-based Investment Company Institute, the trade body for the mutual fund industry." (Washington Post; one-time registration required)

Opinion: Some Changes In 401(k) Rules Could Avert Disaster At 65
Excerpt: "The creation of the 401(k) plan was perhaps the most revolutionary change in the American financial system in the past quarter-century. It has given millions of workers a way to finance their own retirements. But it also has led to missteps that weren't possible in the earlier era of company-funded pensions." (David Nicklaus in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch)

Links to Items on Executive Comp, Benefits in General

Same-Sex Marriage Adds To Employers' Challenges Under New California Domestic Partner Laws
Excerpt: "Recent moves toward legal recognition of same-sex marriage in two Canadian provinces and Massachusetts, as well as the issuance of same-sex marriage licenses by the City and County of San Francisco, have confused the picture for employers trying to understand their legal obligations under California's broad new domestic partnership law." (Littler Mendelson)

Overview: FASB Issues Exposure Draft on Share-Based Payment (PDF)
Excerpt: "The Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) on March 31, 2004 issued on schedule its Exposure Draft on amendments to FASB Statement No. 123 (Statement 123), referred to as 'Share-Based Payment.'" (Frederic W. Cook & Co., Inc.)

Opinion: PepsiCo's Pay Choice-- Options or Free Shares
Excerpt: "Some companies, like Microsoft Corp., are abandoning stock options entirely for free shares of stock. Others are cutting back on stock options and replacing them with free shares. PepsiCo Inc. has decided to give many of its executives a choice between stock options and free shares." (Graef Crystal on Bloomberg.com)

A Look At Executive Pay During 2003
Excerpt: "Top CEO paychecks in 2003 were, as usual, off-the-charts amazing. But the pace of overall raises for execs slowed considerably." (Business Week)

Compensating Directors: Balancing Economic Pressures with the Critical Need for Qualified Candidates
Excerpt: "Organizations are facing a dilemma of increasing board pay to attract top-notch talent and a reluctance to do so, given several pressing factors, not least of which is the corporate governance arena. In this article ... Michael Powers and Gerard Leider of Hewitt Associates, shed some light on recent practices in the U.S." (Hewitt)

Legislative Update from Groom Law Group
4/9/04. Excerpt: "In the last several weeks, the House and Senate haggled over and have now passed pension funding relief legislation, and there has been some renewed activity on legislation to change the rules for nonqualified deferred compensation plans. Here is our update on recent developments." (Groom Law Group)

Corporate Governance Officer: the Hot New Job
Excerpt: "Shareholders like to meet with CGOs. Peter C. Clapman, head of corporate governance at the pension fund TIAA-CREF, says governance officers who attend the same seminars and other functions he does are able to understand the needs of investors." (Corporate Board Member Magazine)

New Federal Rules Could Alter Views of Employee Stock Options
Excerpt: "Two weeks ago, the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) turned up the heat on that debate by proposing a new rule requiring options to be expensed at 'fair value.' If the proposed rule, now in a public-comment period, goes into effect, it likely would erase billions of dollars in reported corporate profits." (Miami Herald; one-time registration required)

Newly Posted Press Releases

Peoria Retirement Plan Professionals Receive Highly Regarded Designations
(Alliance Benefit Group)
Newly Posted or Renewed Job Openings
Post a Help Wanted Ad

Manager, Sponsor Services
for ICMA Retirement Corporation
in DC

DC Plan Administrator/Consultant
for Simpkins & Associates, Inc.
in TX

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