A Note on Pension Trust Accounting.

Abstract Widespread lack of uniformity in the disclosure of information concerning pension trust operations and status is well evidenced in the literature and by published corporate annual reports. But, little has been written on the subject of reporting practices of pension fund trustees. Their accountings are usually considered to be privileged information. Furthermore, trustees report to administering corporations as opposed to the general trust situation wherein accountings are rendered to beneficiaries. The importance of trustees' accountings may be inferred from their influence on disclosure of pension trust financial data in corporate reports. Indeed, the contents of pension trustees' reports may have interesting implications for promoting uniformity in corporate reporting practices. Results of a recent survey of reporting practices of pension fund trustees are presented in this paper. It has been found that the corporate annual report is designed to disclose information concerning the operations and financial condition of the corporation itself.