Pension Accounting (Portfolio 5108)

Description

Portfolio 5108-2nd, Pension Accounting (Accounting Policy and Practice Series), comprehensively analyzes various authoritative pronouncements on accounting by pension plans for their holdings, and on employers accounting for pensions and other postretirement benefits. Although accounting requirements for pensions and other postretirement benefits parallel one another, important distinctions exist. The Portfolio identifies significant points on which the parallel rules diverge.

The Portfolio focuses on the recognition, measurement, and disclosure of defined benefit pension and other postretirement benefit plans for publicly traded corporations. Related topics, such as accounting for pension plans of non-profit organizations, are examined in other Portfolios.

This Portfolio explains how U.S. tax laws regarding pension and other postretirement benefits influence and intersect with U.S. GAAP. The passage of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA) prompted the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) to re-examine then-current reporting practices for pensions and other postretirement benefit plans. The discussion in the Portfolio focuses on the standards designed to better align U.S. GAAP with federal regulations and to improve the financial reporting of pensions and other postretirement benefits. The Portfolio explains how financial analysts assess the implication of a firm’s pension-related obligations on profitability, risk, and cash flow.

This Portfolio may be cited as Bloomberg Tax and Accounting Portfolio 5108-2nd, Williams, Cairns and Bowers, Pension Accounting (Accounting Policy and Practice Series).

Table of Contents

I. Objectives and Scope of Portfolio
II. Federal Regulations and Reporting Requirements
III. General Background on Pension Accounting
IV. Accounting and Reporting by Defined Benefit Pension Plans (FAS 35)
V. FAS 87: Employers’ Accounting for Pensions
VI. Settlements, Curtailments, and Terminations of Defined Benefit Pension Plans (FAS 88)
VII. Employers’ Accounting for Postretirement Benefits Other than Pensions (FAS 106)
VIII. Employers’ Accounting for Postemployment Benefits (FAS 112)
IX. Employers’ Disclosures about Pensions and other Postretirement Benefits: FAS 132
X. General Motors’ Pension Footnote as Presented in the Company’s Annual Report for 2004
XI. Pension Accounting and Quality of Earnings
XII. Trends and Open Issues
XIII. IFRS and Pension Costs
XIV. Accounting and Reporting by Retirement Benefit Plans Under International Accounting
XV. Employers Accounting for Pensions Under International Financial Reporting Standards