KPMG's 2011 Pensions Accounting Survey highlights:
- Most UK companies saw pension balance sheets improve over 2010, with strong asset returns more than offsetting slightly tighter real discount rates.
- Industry estimates suggest that UK private sector pension deficits fell from around £175bn at 31 December 2009 to below £100bn at 31 December 2010.
- Half of companies now using CPI as their pensions inflation measure, says KPMG
- Imminent change to IAS 19 set to improve comparability and transparency of pensions reporting, though will dent UK reported profits by around £10 billion
- Current conditions will be an opportunity for some to de-risk, with buy-out pricing at attractive levels
