Determinants of the Pension Curtailment Decisions of UK Firms
研究英国企业削减固定收益养老金计划的原因，发现管理层对养老金资产预期回报率假设的操纵与后续削减决策相关，支持风险管理解释。
Abstract: During the last ten years of regulatory change, many UK companies have curtailed their defined benefit pension scheme. We test three competing explanations of UK corporate pension curtailments: integration, separation and risk management. We predict and find an association between the use of managerial discretion over changes in UK firms' expected rate of return on pension assets (ERR) assumptions, and subsequent decisions to curtail future defined benefit pension obligations. These findings are consistent with a risk management‐based explanation, even after controlling for other factors identified by prior literature as significant in explaining pension benefit reductions. We also find that curtailments and the risk management of ERR assumptions are associated with subsequent corporate restructuring decisions. The findings support the view that pension curtailment decisions are driven by the failure to adapt to new economic and regulatory pressures and that they are ultimately determined by strategic corporate risk management considerations.