The following items appear on Brueggen Company’s financial statements. 1. Under the caption Assets: Pension asset/liability. 2. Under the caption Liabilities: Pension asset/liability. 3. Under the caption Stockholders’ Equity: Prior service cost as a component of Accumulated Other Comprehensive Income. 4. On the income statement: Pension expense. Instructions Explain the significance of each of the items above on corporate financial statements. (Note: All items set forth above are not necessarily to be found on the statements of a single company.)

Short Answer

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Assets and liabilities are the two components of the organization's balance sheet. Both of the variables are opposite each other and help the business understand itsposition.

Step by step solution

01

(1) Pension asset/liability

Under the caption assets, pension asset/liability measures the employer's and the employee's contributions over the total net pension expense. It is reported under the asset section in the organization's balance sheet.

02

(2) Pension asset/liability

Under the caption liabilities, the employer makes the contributions and is reported under the liability section of the balance sheet.

03

(3) Prior service cost as a component of Accumulated Other Comprehensive Income

Under the caption Stockholder's equity, the accumulated other comprehensive income components are generated because of the difference in actual return on plan assets and expected return on plan assets. It will be reported under the equity section of the organization's balance sheet under the head of other comprehensive income.

04

(4) Pension expense

Under the Income statement of an organization, each pension plan component will be treated to identify the amount of pension expense. It will be reported under the Income Statement of the employer.

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Most popular questions from this chapter

Englehart Co. provides the following information about its postretirement benefit plan for the year 2017. Service cost $ 90,000 Prior service cost amortization 3,000 Contribution to the plan 56,000 Actual and expected return on plan assets 62,000 Benefits paid 40,000 Plan assets at January 1, 2017 710,000 Accumulated postretirement benefit obligation at January 1, 2017 760,000 Accumulated OCI (PSC) at January 1, 2017 100,000 Dr. Discount rate 9% Instructions Compute the postretirement benefit expense for 2017.

For 2017, Sampsell Inc. computed its annual postretirement expense as \(240,900. Sampsell’s contribution to the plan during 2017 was \)180,000. Prepare Sampsell’s 2017 entry to record postretirement expense, assuming Sampsell has no OCI amounts.

Aykroyd Inc. has sponsored a noncontributory, defined benefit pension plan for its employees since 1994. Prior to 2017, cumulative net pension expense recognized equaled cumulative contributions to the plan. Other relevant information about the pension plan on January 1, 2017, is as follows. 1. The company has 200 employees. All these employees are expected to receive benefits under the plan. The average remaining service life per employee is 12 years. 2. The projected benefit obligation amounted to \(5,000,000 and the fair value of pension plan assets was \)3,000,000. The market-related asset value was also \(3,000,000. Unrecognized prior service cost was \)2,000,000. On December 31, 2017, the projected benefit obligation and the accumulated benefit obligation were \(4,850,000 and \)4,025,000, respectively. The fair value of the pension plan assets amounted to \(4,100,000 at the end of the year. A 10% settlement rate and a 10% expected asset return rate were used in the actuarial present value computations in the pension plan. The present value of benefits attributed by the pension benefit formula to employee service in 2017 amounted to \)200,000. The employer’s contribution to the plan assets amounted to $775,000 in 2017. This problem assumes no payment of pension benefits. Instructions (Round all amounts to the nearest dollar.)

(a) Prepare a schedule, based on the average remaining life per employee, showing the prior service cost that would be amortized as a component of pension expense for 2017, 2018, and 2019.

(b) Compute pension expense for the year 2017.

(c) Compute the amount of the 2017 increase/decrease in net gains or losses and the amount to be amortized in 2017 and 2018.

(d) Prepare the journal entries required to report the accounting for the company’s pension plan for 2017

Hanson Corp. sponsors a defined benefit pension plan for its employees. On January 1, 2017, the following balances related to this plan. Plan assets (market-related value) \(520,000 Projected benefi t obligation 700,000 Pension asset/liability 180,000 Cr. Prior service cost 81,000 Net gain or loss (debit) 91,000 As a result of the operation of the plan during 2017, the actuary provided the following additional data for 2017. Service cost \)108,000 Settlement rate, 9%; expected return rate, 10% Actual return on plan assets 48,000 Amortization of prior service cost 25,000 Contributions 133,000 Benefits paid retirees 85,000 Average remaining service life of active employees 10 years

Instructions Using the preceding data, compute pension expense for Hanson Corp. for the year 2017 by preparing a pension worksheet that shows the journal entry for pension expense. Use the market-related asset value to compute the expected return and for corridor amortization.

For Warren Corporation, year-end plan assets were \(2,000,000. At the beginning of the year, plan assets were \)1,780,000. During the year, contributions to the pension fund were \(120,000, and benefits paid were \)200,000. Compute Warren’s actual return on plan assets.

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