Audit Finds Errors in Calculating Pensions in Bankruptcies

[alp227]

Source: NYT

The federal agency that takes over failing pension plans in corporate bankruptcies has made errors in calculating benefits, according to an audit released Wednesday, raising the possibility that some retirees have been getting too much or too little.

The errors appear to have come about because the agency, the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation, used unqualified outside vendors to review the pension plans it took over, then failed to supervise the contractors adequately or verify the accuracy of their work. The audit firm, Clifton Gunderson, referred to “serious internal control weaknesses” in its report.

The financial statements also show the pension guaranty agency with the largest deficit in its 37 years, $26 billion for the fiscal year ended Sept. 30. The pension insurance program is supposed to be self-financing, but in recent years concerns have been raised about whether the taxpayers might have to step in at some point.

Joshua Gotbaum, the agency’s executive director, did not dispute the auditor’s findings. He said the agency had hired new accounting firms with proper credentials to review the earlier vendors’ work and correct errors.

Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/17/business/errors-were-made-in-calculating-corporate-pensions-audit-shows.html

[Kaleko]

1. ... and another shoes drops

from the centipede's 897th leg.

[watajob]

2. You'd better believe...

... they'll find a way to repo the cat food of the people they overpaid but will slow dance the people that got screwed.

[aquart]

3. I'm gonna guess it's always too little.