When Turner Company adopted its defined benefit pension plan on January 1, 2007, it awarded retroactive benefits
Question:
When Turner Company adopted its defined benefit pension plan on January 1, 2007, it awarded retroactive benefits to its employees. These retroactive benefits resulted in an unrecognized prior service cost of $980,000 that created a projected benefit obligation of the same amount on that date. The company decided to amortize the unrecognized prior service cost using the years-of-future-service method. The company’s actuary and funding agency have provided the following additional information for 2007 and 2008:
(1) Service cost: 2007, $187,000; 2008, $189,000;
(2) Plan assets: 1/1/2007, $0; 1/1/2008, $342,000;
(3) Expected long-term (and actual) rate of return on plan assets: 2008, 9%;
(4) Discount rate for both 2007 and 2008: 8%; and
(5) Amortization fraction for unrecognized prior service cost: 2007, 80/980; 2008, 79/980. The company contributed $342,000 and $336,000 to the pension fund at the end of 2007 and 2008, respectively. No retirement benefits were paid in either year. There are no other components of Turner Company’s pension expense; ignore any additional pension liability. The company rounds its calculations to the nearest dollar.
Required
Prepare a pension plan worksheet that includes the calculation of the Turner Company’s pension expense for 2007 and 2008, the reconciliation of the beginning and ending projected benefit obligation for 2007 and 2008, the reconciliation of the beginning and ending plan assets for 2007 and 2008, and the journal entry to record the pension expense at the end of 2007 and 2008, indicating whether each component is a debit or credit.
Depending upon the context, the discount rate has two different definitions and usages. First, the discount rate refers to the interest rate charged to the commercial banks and other financial institutions for the loans they take from the Federal...
Step by Step Answer:
Intermediate Accounting
ISBN: 978-0324300987
10th Edition
Authors: Loren A Nikolai, D. Bazley and Jefferson P. Jones