FASB Posts Retiree Benefits Disclosure Draft

NU Online News Service, Sept. 16, 2003, 5:21 p.m. EDT – The Financial Accounting Standards Board, Norwalk, Conn., is asking for public comments on a draft of a proposed standard for employer disclosure of retiree benefits obligations.

The standard would require employer financial statements to provide more detailed information about pensions and other post-retirement benefits than the current standard, FASB Statement Number 132, now requires.

The plan assets provision, for example, would require employers to disclose the expected long term rate of return for each major category of plan assets, along with the percentage of the plan portfolio invested in each category of assets.