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Your report of pension and accounting "experts" drawing a blank is interesting in what it says of the breadth (or lack of breadth) of knowledge of these experts.

The "employee contribution amendment" is not necessarily addressed to the most important issue troubling employers' pension accounting, but it appropriately addresses a relevant issue for practically all plans in one of the most "pension important" markets - Switzerland.

The standard Swiss plan is a DC plan with guarantees that also commonly has a schedule of retirement savings contributions that increases with age.

The increase schedule can lead to a materially higher benefit attribution to later years of service requiring that benefit be "re-attributed" on a straight line basis.

So, if a plan currently credits say 5% of pay and will later credit 10% of pay, then the re-attribution would "pull forward" some of the future 10% into the current DBO and Service Cost.

Now in our example plan it is quite likely to find that the employee has to pay a part of the contribution and if it were the case that the employee has to pay half of it, then it would be logical that the increase in future contributions of the employee should be "pulled forward" in the same way as the plan benefit.

So that is precisely what the narrow scope amendment addresses, and it addresses it pretty well correctly.

I hope this helps the experts to appear a little less blank.