Pension Funds

Actuary
A professional who applies statistics and probability theory to advise on insurance risks, pricing of contracts, and administration of pension funds, regulated by the Institute and Faculty of Actuaries in the UK.
Allocated Benefits
Allocated benefits refer to the payments in a defined-benefit pension plan, where benefits are distributed to participants as premiums are received by the insurance company. This ensures that employees are guaranteed a pension at retirement, even if the firm ceases operations.
Funded Pension Plan
A funded pension plan is a type of retirement plan where funds are currently allocated to purchase future retirement benefits, ensuring that employees receive retirement payments even if the employer is no longer in business at the time of retirement.
Funded Pension Scheme
A funded pension scheme is a retirement plan that pays benefits to retirees from a fund that is actively invested in securities. The returns generated by this fund are distributed as pensions to its members.
General Retirement System
A comprehensive overview of general retirement systems, including pension and annuity funds established by states or political subdivisions for their employees.
Institutional Investor
An institutional investor is an organization, such as a bank, insurance company, or pension fund, that trades in very large volumes of securities. Institutional investors tend to dominate stock exchanges in many countries.
Investment-Grade
Investment-Grade describes bonds suitable for purchase by prudent investors. Standard & Poor's (S&P) designates the bonds in its four top categories (AAA down to BBB) as investment-grade.
Legal List
A list of high-quality securities approved by a state agency for permissible holdings by fiduciary institutions.
Pension Plan Liability Reserve
An obligation recognized by the employer for the future liability to make annuity payments to employees. The reserve is typically a liability when it results from charging a pension expense. However, in a revocable plan, the reserve is considered an appropriation of retained earnings regardless of whether it affects specific assets.
Railroad Retirement Act
The Railroad Retirement Act, a congressional act effective from 1935, provides retirement benefits to retired railroad workers and their families from a dedicated fund separate from the Social Security fund.
Stewardship Code
A code of best practice for institutional investors, such as pension funds, insurance companies, and investment trusts, which sets guidelines on how these entities should engage with their investee companies, notably in the exercise of voting rights.
Superannuation
Superannuation is an organizational pension program created by a company for the benefit of its employees, synonymous with an occupational pension scheme. Funds deposited in a superannuation account grow until retirement or otherwise withdrawn.
Unfunded Pension System
An unfunded pension system, also known as a pay-as-you-go pension system, is a retirement plan where current workers' contributions are used to pay benefits to current retirees.

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