Status of Largest Frozen Plan

8.	Consider the frozen DB plan with the largest number of active participants, or if your firm has only one frozen DB plan, consider that plan. Which of the following best describes the type of plan freeze?
	(Please check one.)
	1.		'Hard Freeze'
	2.		'Service-Only Soft Freeze'
	3.		'Average-Pay-Component-Only Soft Freeze'
	4.		'New Employee Only Soft Freeze' (Click here to go to question 10.)
	5.		'Partial Freeze'
	6.		Other (Please explain below.)

	If you checked other above, please explain here.

9.	What is your estimate of the number of currently active participants affected by this plan freeze? (Exclude participants who were retired at the time of the freeze and any active participants who may have otherwise been excluded from the conditions of the freeze).
	Number of currently active participants

10.	In what calendar year was the freeze implemented for this plan? (Please enter year.)

11.	Consider the active participants (from the plan in question 8) whose benefits have been frozen. Are they covered under another ongoing retirement plan sponsored by your firm in which they may be accruing benefits?
	(Please check one.)
	1.		Yes (Click here to go to question 12.)
	2.		No (Click here to go to question 13.)
	3.		No response (Click here to go to question 13.)

12.	Since the freeze, which of the following describes any plan type(s) that may have been added or enhanced for any of the participants affected by this freeze?
	(Please check one for each.)

		Yes	No	No response
	a. Another defined benefit plan-this could be a new plan or an existing plan into which these participants may have been merged
	b. A new defined contribution plan
	c. Enhanced employer contributions to an already existing defined contribution plan plan
	d. Other plan types that have been added or enhanced (Please specify below.)

	If you checked other above, please specify here.

13.	What were the reasons for implementing the freeze for the plan indicated above?
	(Check one for each reason.)

		Major reason	Moderate reason	Minor reason	Not a reason	No response
	a. Plan was frozen as a result of a merger with another firm or another plan.
	b. Plan was frozen in anticipation of replacing it with an alternative retirement plan, such as a defined contribution plan, a different defined benefit plan, or savings plan
	c. Plan was frozen as a result of the legislative uncertainty surrounding defined benefit plans
	d. Plan was frozen as a result of the uncertainty surrounding accounting standards and/or potential impact of accounting standards with respect to defined benefit plans
	e. Impact of financial reporting requirements (balance sheet, income statement)
	f. Increases in other significant payroll costs such as wages or health care took priority over maintaining the DB retirement plan
	g. Plan no longer served as an effective employee recruitment tool
	h. Plan no longer served as an effective employee retention tool
	i. Increased pressure from shareholders to increase firm profitability
	j. Plan was frozen to make retirement benefit offerings more comparable to industry competitors
	k. Excessive administrative/regulatory complexity involved to maintain the plan
	l. Unpredictability/volatility of plan funding requirements
	m. Annual contributions needed to satisfy funding requirements and their impact on cash flows.
	n. Regulatory changes required undesirable revisions in plan design
	o. Other (Please explain below.)

	If you checked other above, please explain here.

14.	When this plan was frozen, how confident was your firm that the plan was sufficiently well funded such that it could have been terminated in a standard (that is, fully-funded) termination?
	(Please check one.)
	1.		Highly confident
	2.		Moderately confident
	3.		Slightly confident
	4.		Not at all confident
	5.		No response

15.	Which statement best describes the anticipated outcome of the freeze for this plan?
	(Please check one.)
	1.		Unfreeze the plan at a later date
	2.		Keep plan frozen indefinitely
	3.		Plan Termination
	4.		Combine assets and liabilities from frozen plan with another sponsored plan
	5.		Too early to tell
	6.		Don't know
	7.		Other (Please specify below.)
	8.		No response

	What other type of outcome?

16.	Think about all of your firm's sponsored, single-employer, tax-qualified, defined benefit plans and exclude any plans that may already be frozen. For any remaining plan(s), has your firm considered or discussed a DB plan freeze of any kind (e.g., hard freeze, soft freeze, freezing the plan to new entrants, partial freeze)? (Please check one that best describes this level of consideration.)
	(Please check one.)
	1.		Have neither considered nor discussed
	2.		Have considered or discussed, but are uncertain if one or more plans will be frozen in the future
	3.		Have considered or discussed, but are certain one or more plans will NOT be frozen in the future
	4.		Have considered or discussed, and are certain one or more plans will be frozen in the future
	5.		Not applicable
	6.		No opinion or don't know

17.	Is one or more of your firm's defined benefit pension plans a multiple-employer plan? (Please check one.)
	(Please check one.)
	1.		Yes
	2.		No

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Full Report: GAO-08-817

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