Pension Expense Different Than Funding
Response to the following problem:
On January 1, 2010, the Parkway Company adopted a defined benefit pension plan. At that time, the company awarded retroactive benefits to its employees, resulting in a prior service cost of $2,180,000 on that date (which it did not fund). The company decided to amortize this cost by the straight-line method over the 16-year average remaining service life of its active participating employees. The company's actuary and funding agency have also provided the following additional information for 2010 and 2011:
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|
2010
|
2011
|
|
Service cost
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$ 340,000
|
$ 348,000
|
|
Projected benefit obligation (1/1)
|
2,180,000*
|
$2,738,000
|
|
Plan assets (1/1)
|
-0-
|
670,000
|
|
Discount rate
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10%
|
10%
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|
Expected long-term (and actual) rate of return on plan assets
|
|
9%
|
*Due to the prior service cost
The company contributed $670,000 and $700,000 to the pension fund at the end of 2010 and 2011, respectively. There are no other components of Parkway Company's pension expense. At the end of 2011, the projected benefit obligation was $3,359,800 and the fair value of the pension plan assets was $1,430,300.
Required
1. Compute the amount of Parkway Company's pension expense for 2010 and 2011.
2. Prepare all the journal entries related to Parkway Corporation's pension plan for 2010 and 2011.
3. What is the total accrued/prepaid pension cost at the end of 2011? Is it an asset or a liability?