Report flags consultant error in Pennsylvania pension data

HARRISBURG — A report commissioned by the board of Pennsylvania’s largest public pension system shows a consultant took responsibility for an errant calculation about the fund’s investment performance.

The discovery of the mistaken calculation forced the $72 billion Public School Employees’ Retirement System to take a second vote last year that resulted in increasing employee contribution rates for 94,000 members after it had originally certified them at lower rates.

Investigations by the FBI and U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission followed the disclosure of the error, with both agencies sending subpoenas to the pension agency and, in the FBI’s case, questioning top PSERS officials.

PSERS released the report Monday night.

The law firm that delivered the report, Womble Bond Dickinson, reported that Aon would not agree to an interview.

However, it noted that in two different memos delivered to the board, one in March and one in April, “Aon took responsibility for the error.” Both memos were attached to the report and blamed “inadvertent clerical mistakes at a data-entry level.”

PSERS initially received the data from Aon in mid-2020.

Months later, on Dec. 4, 2020, the report said, a PSERS staff member reviewing an Aon draft report “identified a discrepancy” in the investment performance data.

An Aon spokesperson declined comment, saying the “subject matter of the report relates to pending litigation. We do not comment on pending litigation.”

Womble Bond Dickinson said it found no evidence of kickbacks, illegal payments, theft, self-dealing, false statements or misleading statements in financial transactions.