Strengthening the pension opportunities for small businesses through privatized means has been a significant push in recent months by the National Conference on Public Employee Retirement Systems; a new report from the Government Accountability Office gives further weight to the organization's pension reform proposals.

The GAO's "Private Pensions: Better Agency Coordination Could Help Small Employers Address Challenges to Plan Sponsorship," suggests that ideas such as NCPERS' Secure Choice Pension – a public/private enterprise effort, modeled after a cash balance-styled defined benefit program and designed to supplement 401(k) savings and Social Security benefits – might be a step in the right direction.

NCPERS' survey of small business owners showed substantial support for the new, privatized pension notion, especially as only 14 percent of small businesses are able to sponsor retirement plans of their own.