Accountancy firms including KPMG and PricewaterhouseCoopers are winning more appointments at company pension schemes, as the trustees who oversee them ask tougher questions about the financial strength of their sponsoring companies in the wake of the recession.

The latest trustees to make such a hire are the overseers of the Metal Box Pension Scheme, a £1.3bn (€1.5bn) fund for the UK workers at Crown Packaging, a manufacturing firm.