Latest analysis – Page 24
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Features
Accounting Matters: Auditing the auditors
There is widespread consensus that the audit sector is not fulfilling its potential, and that previous attempts at reform have been ineffective. As the impact of high quality audit goes far beyond the boardroom, when pension funds rely on audited financial statements for their capital allocation decisions, it is ultimately their individual members’ capital that is at risk.
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FeaturesLong-term matters: Stop investing in autocracy
Europeans observing the US ‘near miss’ constitutional crisis have a choice – be spectators or show responsibility
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Opinion PiecesLetter from Australia: Early access genie escapes the bottle
In March 2020, as the Australian economy went into COVID-19 lockdown the government unlocked the national superannuation pool, seeking to ease the financial stress on individuals.
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Opinion PiecesLetter from US: HSAs set to build on popularity
The Health Savings Account (HSA) is becoming increasingly popular as a retirement savings vehicle in the US. The new Biden presidency and the now Democrat controlled Congress are likely to accentuate this trend in 2021 and beyond.
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Opinion PiecesLetter from US: Don’t anticipate radical reform
The new Joe Biden administration is unlikely to revolutionise US pension plans, but it could broaden the base of workers able to join defined contribution plans such as 401(k)s. It may also cancel recent rules and return to the previous regulations set under Barack Obama.
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FeaturesPerspective: Litigation - state of pay?
Changes in legislation like the UK’s Consumer Rights Act 2015 have led to an increase of class actions led by pension funds as they seek to recover investment losses
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FeaturesResearch: The shift from virtue to value
In the final article in a series of two, Pascal Blanqué and Amin Rajan argue that the success of ESG investing rests on a just transition to a low carbon future
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FeaturesAccounting Matters: Accounting for the Wedge
The reason why defined benefit (DB) scheme sponsors account for inflation is because International Accounting Standard 19, Employee Benefits, tells them that if they make a benefit promise that is linked to price increases, the effect of that commitment has to be accounted for. The starting point for what by any standards is a gargantuan actuarial task is to look at yields on inflation-linked bonds.
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Opinion PiecesLetter from Australia: Reforms not super for default funds
A string of government reforms due to come into effect from July 2021 has caught the superannuation sector off-guard.
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Opinion PiecesLetter from US: COVID-19 places new demands on university endowments
COVID-19 has hit a special category of institutional investors in the US hard – college and university endowments. In fact, higher education institutions are facing a decline in revenues because of fewer students enrolling and paying tuition, as well as current students asking for more financial aid. Colleges and universities are withdrawing substantial amounts from their endowments to cover these extra expenses. How is this affecting endowments’ investment strategies?
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FeaturesResearch: Resilience is the new watchword
In the first of two articles, Pascal Blanqué and Amin Rajan ask whether the current volatility in asset prices is a buying opportunity or the halfway stage in a prolonged bear market?
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FeaturesBiden signal is green for ESG
For many, US president-elect Joe Biden spells hope. From an ESG-perspective, there are two main aspects to this phenomenon.
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FeaturesAccounting Matters: Who sets the standards?
You are what you know, the saying goes. And it goes without saying that the 211 comment letters the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) received on its Primary Financial Statements (PFS) project will represent some diverse viewpoints.
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Opinion PiecesLetter from Australia: Funding the future world
A handful of Australian superannuation funds are committing their members’ savings to the future world in terms of energy, water, technology and ideas. There will be successes and failures as ideas are developed and marketed.
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Opinion PiecesLetter from US: Gold investment returns to favour
“Negative real interest rates and unconventional monetary policies have been the catalyst of the new-found interest in gold,” says Jim McKee, a gold expert at Callan’s alternatives consulting group.
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FeaturesPerspective: Manager selection in a pandemic
The social distancing restrictions imposed to contain COVID-19 have made external asset manager selection more demanding, but investors are adapting
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AnalysisUK DB: Pushback over UK proposals for ‘one size fits all’ funding code
Not long before the UK went into its COVID-19 lockdown this March, The Pensions Regulator (TPR) launched the first of a two-stage consultation on a revised defined benefit (DB) funding code.
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FeaturesAccounting Matters - UK DB pension schemes: One step forward, two steps back
As sometimes happens with Easter, one of the surveys of the UK pensions accounting landscape from consultants Lane Clark & Peacock (LCP) was later than usual. And, like an Easter egg, this keenly awaited overview of the net funding position of FTSE 100 defined benefit (DB) pension schemes comes in two halves.
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Opinion PiecesLetter from Australia: ESG stirs some ancient ghosts
In May this year, Rio Tinto blew up one of Western Australia’s most significant Aboriginal heritage sites.
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Opinion PiecesLetter from US: All eyes on CalPERS as CIO quits
The $405bn (€342bn) California Public Employee’ Retirement System (CalPERS) is the bellwether of US public pension funds.
