BBC Broadcasting House

The state-owned broadcaster said its annual accounts, to be published next week, will reveal a pension fund shortfall of �1,070m under the new standards, known as FRS17.

But the Corporation said the figure did not accurately reflect the health of the retirement fund, and stressed that pay outs would not be affected.

It described the �1bn deficit as a "snapshot" figure which reflected weak stock markets at the end of March, when the calculation was made.

The BBC said a calculation at the beginning of June - which would take account of strong share price rallies over the last three months - would show an improvement of about �245m.

The broadcaster added that under alternative valuation methods which take account of long-term trends, the BBC pension fund was in surplus in April this year.

Final salary scheme 'safe'

"Pension schemes are long-term arrangements. We must not get swayed by the ups and downs of the stock market and the short-term impact this has on the scheme's value," said BBC Finance Director John Smith.

"The fund is healthy: It earns more income from its investments and contributions than it pays out."

The BBC also said it had no plans to abandon its defined benefit scheme - which pays staff a guaranteed proportion of their salary on retirement, irrespective of how the pension fund's investments have performed.

"We see it as a key part of the overall remuneration package, and it is one of the benefits of working for the BBC that we wish to maintain," said BBC Director of Human Resources Stephen Dando.

Tumbling share prices have led many employers to close their final salary schemes in recent years, forcing workers to rely instead on less generous schemes where investment risk is borne entirely by the employee.

FRS17, designed to make corporate finances more transparent, forces companies to report annual changes in the balance between their pension fund's assets and liabilities