[walshemj]

In the UK due to some scandals in the past (Robert Maxwell) the pension schemes I know about have independent trustees nominated or elected by employer and employees who have to follow a legal scheme of arrangement and are also audited.

The problem with a lot of pension fun is the accountancy industry have set unrealistic rules for how you define the liability this handing the employer an excuse to close the schemes - I have had an off the record briefing for one scheme this was over a change from RPI to CPI.

At this meeting a trustee commented the worst case scenario that you have to allow for was one where the economy had effectively collapsed and making sure that you had a stockpile of canned good and shotgun shells would be more important that receiving a pension check :-)