Many financial people prefer a level funding method, unless they are in a very cyclical business (like my former employer Bosch who is in the auto business). I remember working for a different company in the 1990's that was going through an acquisition binge, and one question the CFO would always ask is how much will it cost to put an acquisition target company into our DB pension plan? Since we used level funding, Entry Age Normal, I knew that the cost was just a tad under 3% of payroll. So if the CFO knows the gross payroll, he could calculate the annual pension cost in his head. Question: Why might a defined benefit plan be an unwise benefit choice for a cyclical business whose business cycle will closely tracks with the overall macro economy (like the auto industry)? If you can answer that question, you understand the fundamentals of defined benefit funding.