smoothing

smoothing definition - finance
A process used in pension fund accounting by which unusually high returns in a given year are spread over a multi-year period. The logic behind smoothing is that it lowers the volatility of the profit and loss credit from pension fund returns. During the bull market of the late 1990s, smoothing helped companies boost up their earnings by including gains from pension fund returns.

Webster's New World Finance and Investment Dictionary Copyright © 2003 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Indianapolis, Indiana.
Used by arrangement with John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

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