Question

u U lic SCELTUI 201). Problem 2. Measuring and recording pension expense. Presented below is information related to the pension plan of Zimmer Inc. for the year 2017. 1 The service cost related to pension expense is $240,000 using the projected benefits approach. 2 The projected benefit obligation and the accumulated benefit obligation at the beginning of the year are $300,000 and $200,000, respectively. The expected return on plan assets is 9% and the settlement rate is 10%. 3 The accumulated OCI-prior service cost at the beginning of the year is $140,000. The company has a workforce of 200 employees, all who are expected to receive benefits under the plan. The total number of service-years is 1.000 and the service-years attributable to 2017 is 200. The company has decided to use the years-of-service method of amortization for these costs. 4 At the beginning of the period, fair value of pension plan assets, $280,000. The company had an Accumulated OCI (loss) at the beginning of the period of $90,000. Any amortization of unrecognized net loss is recognized on a straight- line basis over the average remaining service-life of the employees. 5 The contribution made to the pension fund in 2017 was $231,000. 6 Actual return on plan assets in 2017 is $27,000. $35,000 benefits are paid to retirees. Instructions (a) Determine the pension expense to be reported on the income statement for 2017 (b) Prepare the journal entries to record pension expense for 2017.

Answer 1

a)	Calculation of Pension Expense
	Particulars	Amount
1	Service cost	$ 2,40,000.00
2	Interest Cost	$     30,000.00
	(Projected Benefit obligation x Settlement Rate)
	(i.e, 300000 x 10%)
3	Expected Return on Planned assets	$    (25,200.00)
	(Fair value of Planned assets x Expected rate of return)
4	Amortized loss ( 90000 x 200/1000)	$     18,000.00
5	Amortized prior service cost ( 140000 x 200/1000)	$     28,000.00
	Total Pension Expense	$ 2,90,800.00
b)	Journal entry
	Pension Expense A/c -Dr	$ 2,90,800.00
	To Pension Liability		$ 2,44,800.00
	To OCI-Prior service cost		$    46,000.00
	( Being Pension expense for the year 2017 recorded)

Expected return is used instead of actual return on assets , to remove volatility which happens in the market and as difference between 2 is less than 10%