Public Pension roundup.

• Position: News & Numbers - Brief article

Comprehensive and timely reporting and communication has become increasingly important in navigating the changing public pension landscape. "Public Pension Reporting and Disclosure: The Current State of Practice and Examples of What Works Well," a new report from from the Center for State and Local Government Excellence, examines the reporting practices of 83 of the largest state-wide pension plans and offers case studies of five pension systems to answer two central questions: 1) How do major pension systems communicate financial, benefit, and governance information to their members and other interested parties? and 2) Which retirement systems provide examples and lessons learned for how to effectively communicate relevant information?

Key findings include:

* A majority of systems follow GFOA reporting standards in producing their comprehensive annual financial reports, with nearly half of the sample also developing a plain language annual financial report.

* Virtually all of the systems develop an actuarial valuation (annually), an experience study (on average, every five years), and have a funding policy...