The Act requires equal member and employer representation on the boards of trustees and Scott says the establishment of the office of the Pension Funds adjudicator is a further boost to protect your interests.
Although the date of enactment is only December 15, Scott says many retirement funds have already started to get their member representation in line with the new Act.
He says the plunge in asset values on world markets in recent months means the surpluses built up by some retirement funds over many years, have very quickly turned to deficits.
Until now, the main issue especially when converting from a defined benefit to a defined contribution fund has been how to equitably carve up accumulated retirement fund surpluses.
Should markets not improve significantly over the months ahead, Scott says companies may be moving into an environment where the primary consideration is the allocation of benefits.
"The new Pension Funds Act means that all stakeholders will be at the table when addressing the problem from employers to employees and existing pensioners.
"Full stakeholder representation should result in decisions which are practical and equitable. This will mean balancing what's right against the financial constraints involved."
For solutions to be durable, Scott says it is vital that they do not have any bias in favour of any one of the stakeholders.
With the establishment of the office of the Pension Funds adjudicator, chances are that the adjudicator will, in any event, reverse any decisions which do not take into account the needs of all stakeholders.
Scott says decisions will differ from one fund to another and they will seldom amount to a perfect solution for all the parties involved.
Paradoxically, the quality of decisions taken can often be assessed by the extent of the dissenting voices.
To get the balance right one needs to ensure a win-win solution and this, he says, may mean having to disappoint all stakeholders to some extent.
He says the Act has helped put a decision-making framework in place for the retirement industry and has helped place it in a good position to strike the right balance.
Scott says unilateral decisions by employers will now be a thing of the past.
Five years ago members of retirement funds often assumed that employers had certain rights and accepted decisions which were not necessarily in their best interests but this is no longer the case, he says.
"The medical schemes industry is moving in the same direction and our view is that other sectors of the financial services industry, who are often also accused of unilateral and sometimes prejudicial decisions, could take their lead from measures taken to protect retirement fund members."