Moreover, many CPA executives believe reductions in pension benefits pose a threat to a company's ability to attract and retain the talent they need to compete.

"These findings are a wake-up call," said John Morrow, vice president of the AICPA's division for CPAs in business and industry. "The traditional system of rewarding employees with pensions after long years of service is on its way out, because companies simply cannot bear the cost. Therefore, employees will have to find alternate methods of funding their retirement."
   
The AICPA surveyed more than 3,100 of its members in business and industry during the month of April. Of them, 59.5 percent work for private companies, and 21.4 percent are employed in public corporations. The remaining respondents are in the not-for-profit and government arenas.

When asked if U.S. companies could continue providing employees with pensions that adequately cover their retirement years, nearly three in four (74 percent) of the respondents said no. More than half (54 percent) indicated that the erosion of these benefits would hurt recruiting and retention efforts. A slightly higher number (57 percent) believe rising healthcare costs are the biggest barrier to a company's ability to offer pension benefits; nearly a third (30 percent) said the pressures to compete in the marketplace outweighed the pressures to provide retirement benefits.

Virtually all the respondents said their companies offer some type of retirement benefit today, with the majority offering a 401(k) plan with matching contributions (65.6 percent). Less than 5 percent said their companies offer no retirement plan at all.

Interestingly, well over half the respondents (59 percent) believe Americans have to educate themselves about retirement savings strategies.

"American workers have to understand the pension safety net will probably not be there for them and that planning for retirement is their personal responsibility," said Carl George, chair of the AICPA's National CPA Financial Literacy Commission. "Americans must recognize that unless they take a more active role in their own retirement planning, they may find themselves working far longer than they had intended."