Employee Benefit Plans

Defined Contribution 401(k) Plan

Duff & Phelps, LLC, a subsidiary of the Company, sponsors the Duff & Phelps Savings Plan, a qualified defined contribution 401(k) plan covering substantially all employees (“401(k) Plan”). Employees are entitled to make contributions up to 100% of their compensation subject to Internal Revenue Code (“Code”) limitations. The Company matches an amount equal to an employee's contribution up to 3% of the employee's compensation and matches 50% of the employee's contribution up to the next 3% of compensation. All Company contributions are discretionary. Participants are immediately vested in both their voluntary and matching contributions plus actual earnings thereon.

Company contributions to the 401(k) Plan is included as components of (i) compensation and benefits of direct client service costs and (ii) selling, general and administrative expenses in the Company's consolidated statements of operations and are summarized as follows:



	Year Ended
	December 31, 2012		December 31, 2011		December 31, 2010
Contributions to 401(k) Plan	$	4,814	$	4,644	$	4,610

Deferred Compensation Plan

The Company maintains the Duff & Phelps Deferred Compensation Plan (“Deferred Compensation Plan”) for key employees. The purpose of the Deferred Compensation Plan is to attract and retain key employees by providing each participant with an opportunity to defer receipt of a portion of his or her salary, bonus and other specified compensation. The plan is not intended to meet the qualification requirements of Code Section 401(a), but is intended to meet the requirements of Code Section 409A, and is operated and interpreted consistent with that intent.

The Deferred Compensation Plan constitutes an unsecured promise by the Company to pay benefits in the future. Participants in the Deferred Compensation Plan have the status of general unsecured creditors of the Company. The plan is unfunded for U.S. federal tax purposes and is intended to be an unfunded arrangement for eligible employees who are part of a select group of management or highly compensated employees of the Company within the meaning of Sections 201(2), 301(a)(3) and 401(a)(1) of ERISA. Any amounts set aside to defray the liabilities assumed by the Company will remain general assets of the Company and remain subject to the claims of the Company's creditors until such amounts are distributed to the participants.

For participants who reside in the United States, the Company may credit participants with discretionary contributions provided the participant is employed on the last day of the plan year and has deferred the maximum permissible amount to the Company's qualified 401(k) plan for such year. Discretionary contributions are derived from a pool that is equal to an aggregate of 4.5% of the compensation of each participant for the plan year that exceeds the limitation on compensation under Code Section 401(a)(17) for such year. For participants outside of the United States, the Company's matching contributions will be an amount determined by the Company. Company matching contributions to the Deferred Compensation Plan are 100% vested.

Under the terms of the plan, the Company established a “rabbi trust” as a vehicle for accumulating assets to pay benefits under the plan. Payments under the plan may be paid from the general assets of the Company or from the assets of any such rabbi trust. Payment from any such source reduces the obligation owed to the participant or beneficiary. The rabbi trust invests in an investment vehicle structured as a corporate-owned life insurance (“COLI”) policy with a cash surrender value that mirrors the payable to the participants of the plan and tracks the value of the plan assets. Participants can earn a return on their deferred compensation that is based on hypothetical investment funds. The policy is redeemable on demand in an amount equal to the cash surrender value. The cash surrender value approximates fair value.

The fair market value of the investments in the rabbi trust is included in “Investments related to the deferred compensation plan” with the corresponding deferred compensation obligation included in current and non-current portion of the liability related to the deferred compensation plan on the Consolidated Balance Sheets. Changes in the fair value of the investments are recognized as compensation expense (or credit). Changes in the fair value of the benefits payables to participants are recognized as a corresponding offset to compensation expense (or credit). The net impact of changes in fair value is not material.