New papers from the Social Science Research Network

"Are US Workers Ready for Retirement? Trends in Plan Sponsorship, Participation, and Preparedness" 
Journal of Pension Benefits, Ferenczy Benefits Law Center, Winter 2015. pp. 25-39

TERESA GHILARDUCCI, Schwartz Center for Economic Policy Analysis (SCEPA), The New School - Department of Economics, University of Notre Dame - Department of Economics
Email: ghilardt@newschool.edu
JOELLE SAAD-LESSLER, The New School for Social Research
Email: lesslerj@newschool.edu
KATE BAHN, The New School for Social Research
Email: katebahn@gmail.com

Most workers need a workplace retirement plan to supplement their Social Security to achieve an adequate retirement income — defined here as a 70 percent replacement rate at age 65. However, only 44 percent of workers in the United States participate in a retirement plan at work. The lack of retirement readiness is not caused by the Great Recession but by two structural trends: not enough people have access to a retirement plan at work and, when they do, the amounts saved are often not enough to ensure adequate retirement living standards.

Between 1999 and 2011, the availability, distinct from participation, of employer-sponsored retirement plans in the United States declined from 61 percent to 53 percent. [Ghilarducci, Teresa and Saad-Lessler, Joelle. “Explaining the Decline in Offer Rate of Employer Retirement Plans Between 2001-2012,” Schwartz Center for Economic Policy Analysis and Department of Economics, The New School for Social Research, Working Paper Series, 2014. Forthcoming in the Industrial and Labor Relations Review.] All workers, regardless of sex, race, industry, firm size, and union status, experienced a drop in coverage rates. However, being in a union was somewhat protective; union workers experienced a 6 percent drop in coverage while non-union worker rates dropped 14 percent.

"Pension Fund Management: The Case of Ethiopian Social Security Agency" 

KOKOBE SEYOUM ALEMU, Ambo University
Email: kokseyoum@yahoo.com

The research study evaluated pension fund management of Ethiopian social security agency. To attain these objectives, eleven years’ financial statements were used as a secondary data and different ratio analysis was carried out to examine the status of fund management of Ethiopian social security agency. Those ratios shows that the organization current assets is very much large when compared with its current liabilities which shows the organization is in the best position to pay off all of its current liability. Again, the finding displays the asset turnover has been decreasing from time to time which shows under utilization of companies asset. In addition to this, large percentage of the asset of social security is financed by equity and small percentage is financed by debt. Lastly, the analysis puts that the organization is absorbent up to 50% of its income. That means up to 50% of them is consumed by its expenses.

"Accounting for Pension Flows and Funds: A Case Study for Accounting, Economics and Public Finances" 
EGPA XII Permanent Study Group Public Sector Financial Management Workshop, Zurich-Winterthur (Switzerland), May 7-8, 2015

YURI BIONDI, French National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS)
Email: yuri.biondi@gmail.com
MARION SIERRA, Université Paris Dauphine
Email: marion.sierra-torre@dauphine.fr

Accounting for pension obligations has been co-evolving with political and financial economic strategies aimed to prompt and promote active financial markets and institutional investors, as well as transnational harmonisation and convergence of accounting standards between private and public sectors. In this context, our article provides a theoretical analysis of accounting for pension obligations, drawing upon a comprehensive review of existing practice and regulation. The latter are still inconsistent with the actuarial representation that has been adopted by the IPSAS 25 (Employee Benefits) and the IAS 19 (Employee Benefits). According to our frame of analysis, a variety of viable modes of pension management exists and shall be acknowledged by accounting and financial regulations. Accounting (and financial economic) concepts and regulatory recommendations are then elaborated in view to clarify and improve on pension protection, that is, the assurance of continued provision of pension payments at their agreed levels under viable alternative modes of pension management.