Glossary

Act 766 / Act 883. The National Pensions Act, 2008, and its 2014 amendment, which set the three-tier pension structure in Ghana.

Audit trail. The record of who did what in the system, and when.

Basic salary. The salary a pension contribution is worked out from.

Beneficiary. A person named to receive a member’s benefit if the member dies.

Benefit claim. A request for money to be paid out of a member’s account: retirement, early retirement, incapacity, death, emigration, withdrawal or transfer out.

Bank reconciliation. Matching the lines of a bank statement to the contributions and payments they belong to.

Broadcast. An email or SMS sent to many people at once.

Chart of accounts. The list of general ledger accounts that money is recorded against.

Contribution. Money paid into a member’s account. Its type is mandatory, voluntary or transfer.

Custodian. The institution that holds a fund’s assets and independently evidences them.

Employer. An organisation whose staff are members of a scheme.

Flagged contribution. A contribution line that failed a check, held for staff to review.

Forfeiture. The part of an employer’s contribution that is not payable to a member who leaves before vesting. It stays in the fund and belongs to the employer.

Four eyes. The rule that some actions, such as approving a benefit claim or a manual journal, need a second person to approve them.

Fund. A pool of investments within a scheme.

Fund manager. The institution that invests a fund’s assets.

Fund switch. A member’s instruction to move money from one fund to another within a scheme. It waits for approval and is carried out at the closing prices of the moment it is approved.

KYC. Know your customer: the identity details and documents held for a member or employer.

Mandate limit. The most a fund may hold in one asset class or with one issuer, set by the regulator or by the scheme.

Member. A person who belongs to a scheme.

NAV (net asset value). The value of a fund’s assets less its liabilities, at a valuation date.

NPRA. The National Pensions Regulatory Authority, the regulator.

Next of kin. The person to contact about a member, separate from their beneficiaries.

Onboarding batch. A set of staff members sent in by an employer to be enrolled on a scheme.

Regulatory return. A report the trustee must file with the regulator.

Relationship officer. A person at the trustee who looks after an employer or client relationship.

Restatement. The only way to change a unit price that has been locked. It never edits the original.

Scheme. A pension arrangement with its own rules and funds: Tier 2, a Tier 3 personal pension or a Tier 3 provident fund.

SSNIT. The Social Security and National Insurance Trust, which runs Tier 1.

Statement. A periodic summary of a member’s account. Statements are produced in runs, one scheme at a time.

Tier 1, Tier 2, Tier 3. The three tiers of the Ghanaian pension system. See Pension concepts.

Transfer in / transfer out. Money moving into or out of a member’s account from or to another scheme.

Trustee. The licensed organisation that runs the schemes and is accountable for them.

Unit. A share in a fund. A member holds units, and their balance is units times the unit price.

Unit price. The fund’s NAV divided by the units in issue, set at each valuation.

Valuation. Working out a fund’s NAV and unit price on a date. It can be scheduled or ad hoc.

Vesting. The period after which a member keeps the full tax relief or the employer’s share of their benefits.