Problem - The San Francisco Sailors has 200 employees who are expected to receive benefits under the company's defined-benefit pension plan. The total number of service-years of these employees is 2,000. The actuary for the company's pension plan calculated the following net gains and losses:
For the year ended December 31st: Gain/(Loss)
2014 $640,000
2015 ($554,000)
2016 $990,000
Prior to 2014, there was no unrecognized net gain or loss.
Information about the company's projected benefit obligation and fair value (market-related) of plan assets follows:
As of January 1, 2014 2015 2016
PBO $2,100,000 $2,340,000 $2,940,000
Fair Value of Plan Assets $1,680,000 $2,460,000 $2,550,000
Based on the above information about San Francisco Sailors, determine the amount of net gain or loss to be amortized by the company as a component of pension expense for the years 2014, 2015, and 2016. The Sailors amortizes net gains or losses using the straight-line method over the average service life of participating employees.