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Global Pension Systems and Their Reform: Worldwide Drivers, Trends, and Challenges

"The ongoing worldwide financial crisis and the adjustment to an uncertain 'new normal' will make future pension systems different from past ones."

Executive Pay: Lessons from 2025 and Board Priorities for the Year Ahead

"Say-on-pay support stays steady ... DEI metrics disappearing from incentive plans ... Perks under pressure ... Reduced visibility into institutional voting behavior and rationales."

The Dodd-Frank Act: Corporate Governance and Executive Compensation (PDF)

4 pages. Excerpt: [The article provides] insight on the effects the Dodd-Frank Act are having on corporate governance and executive compensation practices at public companies. [Reprinted with permission from Financier Worldwide Limited].

Plan Sponsors Paying a Lot More in Fees, Study Finds

Excerpt: Average fees paid by pension plans worldwide have jumped 50% over the past five years, with active managers making up the bulk of the increase, according to a new report by Watson Wyatt Worldwide.

2016 San Francisco HCSO Annual Reporting Form Released with May 1 Filing Deadline

"You are a covered employer and are required to file [your 2016 Health Care Security Ordinance (HCSO) Annual Reporting Form] if you met the following three conditions in 2016: [1] employed one or more workers within the geographic boundaries of the City and County of San Francisco; [2] were required to obtain a valid San Francisco business registration certificate pursuant to Article 12 of the Business and Tax Regulations Code, and [3] employed 20 or more persons worldwide (for profit) or a nonprofit organization that employed 50 or more persons worldwide."

What to Look For in 2012: De-Risking Defined Benefit Plans

"Given the highlighted areas of concern already discussed, it's likely that plan sponsors will look ever harder at the idea of de-risking their plans in 2012 and onward. The volatility of worldwide markets has been dubbed the 'new normal' by many economic minds. Smoothing mechanisms are losing favor in the financial world, and the International Accounting Standards Board ... has already moved toward a more mark-to-market structure, with the Financial Accounting Standards Board ... likely not far behind."

A Transatlantic Crisis for Pension Plans: Italy, Ireland, and Greece Are Just the Beginning (PDF)

"[Plan sponsors, both governments and companies, face financial obligations to retirement programs] they do not have the wherewithalto meet. Steps taken to address the crisis will worsen the financial condition of pension plans worldwide. On top of this, pension plans on both continents operate under restrictive regulatory regimes that provideinsufficient flexibility for the plans themselves to address the current difficulties they are facing."

Pension Plans: Frozen But Not Forgotten

Excerpt: With the Financial Accounting Standards Board's (FASB) new rules requiring balance sheet recognition of pension liabilities for fiscal years ending after December 15, 2006, new funding rules effective for the 2008 plan year, and a worldwide trend toward mark-to-market accounting, it appears that funding and expense volatility will continue.... In this Perspective, we take a look at the financial implications of freezing a plan and how best to manage the process.

Balancing Lower U.S. Prescription Drug Prices and Innovation

"The high prices U.S. patients pay for drugs are a key driver of pharmaceutical company financial performance, generating large profits relative to many other industries and an estimated three-quarters of worldwide drug company profits. As a result, lowering U.S. drug prices would likely have an outsized impact on overall incentives to innovate."

U.S. Tax Issues for U.S. Expats in U.K. Pension Schemes (PDF)

"[W]ith the rise of tax information sharing among country tax authorities, it is increasingly important to be aware of cross-border tax issues that may arise at the member level.... [T]he US income tax system taxes US citizens and green card holders and residents ... on their worldwide income.... [B]eing a member in a pension scheme, having options or other share rights, or even bonus arrangements, may be considered having a financial account ... For a US taxpayer to not properly treat or disclose such benefit for US tax purposes can lead to significant penalties, and for their employers, some reputational risk or embarrassment."