Come join us for a lively roundtable discussion!

Please join us for our first Brown Bag Lunch in 2015. The Society of Actuaries released new mortality tables and corresponding mortality improvement projection scale in October. The new tables have generated a lot of discussion because the new mortality tables will generally increase balance sheet liabilities significantly.

As a result, companies are seeking arguments to support deferring recognition of this change. These arguments are to counter what many sponsors may see as pressure from auditors to adopt these new tables. On the other side, auditors have a responsibility to fairly disclose the financial state of the plan sponsor’s business to investors, the government and other interested parties. 

What can interested parties do?  What are plan sponsors saying to auditors, and vice versa, to address these issues?

Just in time for year-end financial reporting, we will discuss the pros and cons of the adoption of the defined benefit plan mortality tables. You will leave the discussion with a better understanding of whether or not the new tables are appropriate for your defined benefit plan.

Rich Wright, Principal and Consulting Actuary at Milliman, and Bertha Minnihan, National Practice Leader, Employee Benefit Services at Moss Adams LLP, will lead our discussion. 

Rich Wright is a Principal and Consulting Actuary at Milliman and he manages the employee benefits practice in San Francisco.  Rich's area of expertise is retirement and health and welfare benefits. His clients include private-sector employers, public employers, and multiemployer trusts. Rich has extensive experience in: defined benefit valuations, retiree medical valuations, experience studies, nondiscrimination testing, plan document drafting, modeling of retirement plan costs, projections of health and welfare costs, accounting standards related to retirement and postretirement health plans and plan terminations and mergers. 

Bertha Minnihan is the National Practice Leader, Employee Benefit Services at Moss Adams LLP. Bertha has practiced public accounting since 1995 and has extensive experience directing all phases of audits for a variety of benefit plans, including 401(k), 403(b), pension, employee stock ownership, health, and welfare benefit plans. She also provides ERISA-related consulting services nationwide and dedicates her time to staying on top of Department of Labor requirements while still in the proposal and discussion stages.

Alison Wright from Hanson Bridgett LLP will moderate.