Pension plans continue to have a negative impact on corporate balance sheets, according to SEI Investments' survey of 100 CFOs, to be released Thursday. According to the survey, 62% of the CFOs, each of whom oversaw an average of $344 million in defined benefit or cash-balance assets, said their pension plans have lowered the overall gross profits of their respective companies.
Twenty-nine percent of respondents said their pension plans had a negative impact on cash flows. An increased number of CFOs also said their pension plan has had a negative impact on their company's credit rating, thus affecting its ability to tap the capital markets for assets.
"This has become an acute pain that is now spreading well beyond the traditional pension spectrum," Jim Morris, senior vice president of SEI's Retirement Solutions unit, said in the survey.
