>The company's balance sheet looks good because they don't have to pay any pensions yet. Companies under GAAP accounting actually do have to carry their pensio

>The company's balance sheet looks good because they don't have to pay any pensions yet. Companies under GAAP accounting actually do have to carry their pension liabilities/assets on their balance sheet and have to report on the status of their pension fund. So investors can see if the pension is underfunded. Edit: for example, check GM’s last 10-K, note 16. [0] [0] http://phx.corporate-ir.net/phoenix.zhtml?c=231169&p=irol-secTextTest&TEXT=aHR0cDovL2FwaS50ZW5rd2l6YXJkLmNvbS9maWxpbmcueG1sP2lwYWdlPTEyMDI2NTgwJkRTRVE9MCZTRVE9MCZTUURFU0M9U0VDVElPTl9FTlRJUkUmc3Vic2lkPTU3 http://phx.corporate-ir.net/phoenix.zhtml?c=231169&p=irol-se...