The Australian Meat Industry Superannuation Trust (AMIST Super) will look at implementing unit pricing to calculate the value of its investments.

The fund currently uses historical monthly crediting rates to determine investment value.

"The board has given approval for our fund to undertake a project that will assess the benefits of implementing unit pricing in our fund," AMIST Super chief executive John Livanas said.

Crediting rates are calculated by crediting an amount to each person's account based on the overall rate of return on fund investments, as well as the amount invested by each person in the fund.

Unit pricing is the price of each unit based on the number of units issued and the total value of the fund investments at the time the price is calculated.

"Given the volatile markets we believe it is important to provide our members with a frequent valuation of their assets. Unit pricing allows us to do this," he said.

The fund will be working with its custodian National Custodian Services to explore various models. Consulting firm Mercer will provide advice on the technical issues.

The project will be led by AMIST Super head of operations Jack Sullivan and implementation should be finalised by the end of the year.

This is the first step towards implementing unit pricing to determine the value of members' accounts, which is currently proposed to occur during 2010, according to Sullivan.

Unit pricing has been the subject of debate in the superannuation industry. ASIC and the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority have both said the methodology provides a more direct link to movements in asset values, investment income and transaction costs. 

According to research firm SuperRatings, out of 200 superannuation funds about 63 per cent use unit pricing while 37 per cent use crediting rates.

Of the 37 per cent that use crediting rates, not one fund is a master trust.

Crediting rates remain an industry fund phenomenon, SuperRatings chief executive Jason Clarke said.