IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bla/jbfnac/v50y2023i7-8p1101-1127.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The elusive relation between pension discount rates and deficits

Author

Listed:
  • Seth Armitage
  • Ronan Gallagher
  • Jiaman Xu

Abstract

The relation between defined‐benefit (DB) pension discount rates and funding status is more complex than it might first appear. Existing evidence suffers from estimation biases that make precise inference unreliable. We document the biases and quantify their impact on inference in relation to corporate window‐dressing of DB funding status. Our empirical evidence from the United Kingdom suggests that pension sponsors use discretion in the choice of pension discount rate not only to reduce reported deficits but also to reduce reported surpluses.

Suggested Citation

  • Seth Armitage & Ronan Gallagher & Jiaman Xu, 2023. "The elusive relation between pension discount rates and deficits," Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 50(7-8), pages 1101-1127, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:jbfnac:v:50:y:2023:i:7-8:p:1101-1127
    DOI: 10.1111/jbfa.12658
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1111/jbfa.12658
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1111/jbfa.12658?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:bla:jbfnac:v:50:y:2023:i:7-8:p:1101-1127. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.blackwellpublishing.com/journal.asp?ref=0306-686X .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.