Data analytics is the process of examining data sets in order to draw conclusions about the information they contain. If you haven’t completed any of the prior data analytics cases, follow the instructions listed in the Chapter 1 Data Analytics case to get set up. You will need to watch the videos referred to in the Chapters 1 - 3 Data Analytics cases. No additional videos are required for this case. All short training videos can be found here: https:// www.tableau.com/learn/training#getting-started. In the Data Analytics Cases in the previous chapter, you used Tableau to examine a data set and create charts to examine two (hypothetical) publicly traded companies: GPS Corporation and Tru, Inc., to examine the effect of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 on these companies’ operations and financial position. Now, you examine the funded status of the two companies’ pension plans and any changes in that funded status during the previous ten years. You will also observe the change in the way components of pension expense are reported in the income statement. 

Required: 

For each of the two companies in the ten-year period, 2012-2021, use Tableau to calculate and display the trends for (a) the amounts the companies report in their balance sheets pertaining to their defined benefit pension plans cost [projected benefit obligation minus pension plan assets] and (b) the pension service cost and pension nonservice cost components of the net pension cost. Based upon what you find, answer the following questions: 

1. In which years is GPS’s pension plan underfunded during the period 2012-2021? 

2. In which years is Tru, Inc.’s pension plan underfunded during the period 2012-2021? 

3. In which year did the two companies begin reporting the service cost and non-service cost components of the net pension cost separately in their income statements? 

4. What are the (a) service cost and (b) non-service cost components of the net pension cost for GPS in 2021?