Qantas Airways Limited is the flagship carrier of Australia. It provides the following footnote disclosures in its annual report relating to its defined pension plans and its other post-retirement benefits

a. How much pension expense does Qantas report in its 2012 income statement?

b. The company reports a \(\$ 151\) million expected return on pension plan assets as an offset to 2012 pension expense. In general terms, how is this amount computed? What is the purpose of using this expected return instead of the actual gain or loss?

c. What factors affected the company's pension liability during 2012? What factors affected the pension plan assets during 2012 ?

d. What does the term funded status mean? What is the funded status of the 2012 pension plans and postretirement benefit plans?

e. The company decreased its discount rate from \(5.3 \%\) to \(4.4 \%\) in 2012 . What effect(s) does this decrease have on its balance sheet and its income statement?

f. How did Qantas's pension plan affect the company's cash flow in 2012?

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EXPENSE RECOGNISED IN THE CONSOLIDATED INCOME STATEMENT Current service cost... Past service cost Interest cost... Contributions by plan participants.. Expected return on plan assets. Actuarial losses... Total included in manpower and staff related expenditure ACTUAL RETURN (LOSS)/GAIN ON PLAN ASSETS Actual return (loss)/gain on plan assets.... MAJOR CATEGORIES OF PLAN ASSETS AS A PERCENTAGE OF TOTAL PLAN ASSETS Equity instruments (Australian and overseas) Fixed interest, cash and indexed bonds (Australian and overseas).. Property....... Alternative assets. Qantas Group 2012 2011 $M $M $154 106 (27) (151) 20 $102 $M $ (27) % 50 30 5 15 $152 (3) 102 (23) (144) 26 $110 SM $137 % 50 30 5 15