The pension investments, however, have performed better than expected, in part because the plan pulled out of the stock market in June 1987.

"He is not the man we need advising New York on its pension investments."

Another was the ability companies have to give themselves credit for certain pension investments even if they lose value.

Instead, companies report profits as if the pension investments earned what was assumed when the year began.

Jim Moore followed his father into the army, then had a very successful career managing state pension investments.

Northwest has already said that it will use an assumed rate of 9.5 percent for its pension investments in 2003.

Hedge funds are considered a questionable pension investment because they can be volatile.

The assumptions that Ford makes on expected profit from pension investments are another concern.

The second part will tackle the way pension investments affect reported corporate profits.

It's impossible to get a current list of a company's pension investments.