Ask the experts (TT Dec07 p12-13)

If it ain’t broke…
The IAS 19 accounting standard does not provide a realistic indication of the price for which a pension scheme’s liabilities can be settled, but conventional estimates of buy-out liabilities are now probably too high, particularly given deals like Citibank’s acquisition of the Thomson Regional Newspapers pension scheme and the Pensions Corporation acquisition of the Thorn and the Thresher schemes. So what liability measurement basis should the principal interested parties be demanding the company accounts use? Three ACT members give their views.