Education
An Audit of The Financial Statements of the Teacher Retirement System for the Fiscal Year Ended August 31, 2001
December 2001
Report Number 02-015
Overall Conclusion
The State Auditor's Office concluded that the financial statements of the Teacher Retirement System (System) for fiscal year 2001 are materially correct in accordance with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States. In addition, we noted no problems with the System's financial statements, compliance, or internal control. This is the fourth consecutive year that we found no instances of significant noncompliance or material weaknesses in internal control.
The System's actuary reported that the System's pension plan remains actuarially fully funded as of August 31, 2001. However, due to the fact that the plan's normal cost rate now exceeds the contribution rate and there is a large amount of deferred investment losses, future pension plan benefit increases might not be statutorily permitted without an increase in contribution rates and/or improvements in investment returns.
Key Facts and Findings
- The net assets of the pension trust fund decreased by $10.6 billion to $79.4 billion during fiscal year 2001, largely because of adverse market conditions.
- The pension plan membership surpassed one million members for the first time as of August 31, 2001.
- Retiree insurance plan expenses exceeded revenues by $60 million during the fiscal year.
Contact the SAO about this report.
Download the PDF version of this report. (02-015.pdf)
HTML Equivalent (utilizing Adobe's PDF Conversion by Simple Form).