Question

Rosebud Corp. reported the following itmes in the 2019 pension footnote for its defined benefit plan.

Service Cost - 1610

Benefits paid to retirees - 220

Interest Cost - 780

Actual returns on pension plan assets - 1140

Expected returns on pension plan assets - 1200

Amortization of deferred costs - 62

How much is the company's pension expense for the year?

Answer 1

Pension expense is the amount that a business charges to expense in relation to its liabilities for pensions payable to employees. The amount of this expense varies, depending upon whether the underlying pension is a defined benefit plan or a defined contribution plan. The characteristics of these plan types are as follows:

• Defined benefit plan. Under this plan, the employer provides a predetermined periodic payment to employees after they retire. The amount of this future payment depends upon a number of future events, such as estimates of employee lifespan, how long current employees will continue to work for the company, and the pay level of employees just prior to their retirement. In essence, the accounting for defined benefit plans revolves around the estimation of the future payments to be made, and recognizing the related expense in the periods in which employees are rendering the services that qualify them to receive payments in the future under the terms of the plan.

• Defined contribution plan. Under this plan, the employer’s entire obligation is complete once it has made a contribution payment into the plan, as long as no associated costs are being deferred for recognition in later periods. Thus, the employer commits to pay a specific amount of funds into a plan, but does not commit to the amount of benefits subsequently distributed by that plan. The accounting for a defined contribution plan is to charge its contributions to expense as incurred.

Here is a summary of the relevant costs associated with a defined benefit pension plan, which sum to the net periodic pension cost that is recognized in each accounting period:

Cost	Explanation
+ Service cost	This is the actuarial present value of benefits related to services rendered during the current reporting period. The cost includes an estimate of the future compensation levels of employees from which benefit payments will be derived.
+ Interest cost	This is the interest on the projected benefit obligation. It is a financial item, rather than a cost related to employee compensation.
Expected return on plan	The return on the plan assets on the basis of dividends,interest and capital gains generated by assets held in a companys pension fund.
+ Amortization of prior service costs	When an employer issues a plan amendment, it may contain increases in benefits that are based on services rendered by employees in prior periods. If so, the cost of these additional benefits are amortized over the future periods in which those employees active on the amendment date are expected to receive benefits.
+ Gain or loss	This is the gain or loss resulting from a change in the value of a projected benefit obligation from changes in assumptions, or changes in the value of plan assets.
= Net periodic pension cost

The pension expense associated with a defined benefit plan can vary considerably over time, depending upon changes in the estimated costs noted in the preceding table. This can result in highly variable income statement results.

Gain or loss in Plan assets

Actual return in plan assets	1140
Less:Expected return in plan assets	1200
Less:Benifits paid	220
Loss	280

Pension expense for the year

Service cost	1610
Interest cost	780
Expected return on plan assets	-1200
Amortization of prior service cost	62
Gain or loss	-280
Penion expense	972