Off the record: Bean counters called to account

By David WhiteMarch 2008 (Magazine)

Few issues have generated so much controversy among Europe’s corporate pension schemes as the application of international accounting standards (IAS). In Switzerland, the introduction of IAS19 has led pension lawyers to re-define Pensionskassen as defined contribution (DC) rather than defined benefit (DB) schemes in an effort to escape its provisions. In the Netherlands, industry-wide schemes have argued that the involvement of a large number of corporate sponsors has made the implementation of IAS19 impossible.