Pension Benefits And Benefits Of Pensions

9. How did the pension plan changes affect Harnischfeger’s financial statements in 1984? Are these changes likely to affect future profits?

As you approach age of 60, it’s time to take benefit of your life long hard work in terms of pension benefits. First, you need to decide at what age you would like to begin your CPP pension benefits. As this decision will impact your total pension benefits for the rest of your life, caution is advised. This article will help you to understand when the best age is to being your Canada Pension Plan (CPP) benefits.

SFAS No. 87 “Employers’ Accounting for Pensions” maintains that pension information should be prepared on the accrual basis and retained three fundamental aspects of past pension accounting: 1. delaying recognition of certain events, 2. Reporting net cost, and 3. offsetting assets and liabilities” (Schroeder, Clark, & Cathey, "Pensions and Other Postretirement Benefits," 2011). “The components of pension costs reflect different aspects of the benefits earned by employees and the method of financing those benefits by the employer. The following are required to be included in the net pension cost recognized by the employer sponsoring a defined benefits pension plan: 1. Service cost, 2. Interest cost, 3. Return on plan assets, 4. Amortization of unrecognized prior service cost, 5. Amortization of gains and losses, 6. Amortization of the unrecognized net obligation or unrecognized net asset at the date of the initial application of SFAS No. 87” (Schroeder, Clark, & Cathey, "Pensions and Other Postretirement Benefits," 2011).

An organization can offer several different types of retirement plans to their employees. There are two types of plans that are most often used such as the Defined Contribution Plan and the Hybrid Plans. The Define Contribution plans are beneficial not only to employees retirement needs but also beneficial to the company at the same time. Section 401(k) plans, Employee Stock Ownership Plans (ESOPs), Profit Sharing Plans, and Stock Bonus Plans. On the other broad of the spectrum we have the Hybrid Plan or the Cash Balance Plans, which may also be

a. i. An employer with a defined-contribution plan pays into the plan either an annual lump-sum per employee or calculates payments based on the employees‟ current wages and or time of service with the firm. Under such a plan, the employer does not guarantee the future amounts employees will receive when they retire. The employees covered by a defined-contribution plan assume the risk for the pension plan‟s financial performance. Under a defined-benefit plan, the employer specifies the size and timing of the payments that the employees will receive when they retire. Typically, these retirement benefits are commensurate with the wages earned by the employee in his or her last few years of employment

Traditional pension plans were once the gold standard of employer-sponsored retirement plans before IRAs and 401(k)s became more prevalent. If you have such a plan at work, your life expectancy and benefits were calculated to set your payroll and employer contributions. Once fully vested, the pensions are guaranteed to employees or their heirs. There are also special annuity plans called 412(i) or 412(e)3 plans that are funded through insurance. Features of these retirement plans include:

Note 11, pages 216-217, describes a number of changes in Harnischfeger’s pension plans in 1984. Describe these changes as clearly as you can. What are the economic consequences of these changes to Harnischfeger and its workers?

On August 17, 2006 the Pension Protection Act of 2006 (the Act) was signed into law. The Pension Protection Act ("PPA") [P.L. 109-280] originated as a single-employer defined benefit pension funding reform bill to strengthen the DB pension system. However, it is best known for the number of provisions to enhance 401(k) and 403(k) plans, especially the auto enrollment feature. Among other noteworthy provisions are those intended to remove legal obstacles to, and create new incentives for, automatic enrollment 401(k) and 403(b) plans. It represents one of the most comprehensive pension reform legislation since ERISA was enacted in 1974. The Act has lead to many companies changing the way their plans are designed and administered, amend plan documents, increase plan funding, and make additional plan disclosures in regulatory filings and to plan participants. The Act made many sweeping changes but for the sake of brevity, only the automatic enrollment plan made by employers on the behalf of its employees is addressed in this report as to the rationale behind the passage of the PPA. Even though the provisions generally apply both to 401(k) and 403(b) plans, for explanatory purposes all references will refer only to 401(k) plans.

For an extended period, state and local policymakers and labor unions ignored the growing public pension obligations as they became an increasing fiscal burden. The pension problem was enormous and associated with irresponsible financial practices connected to defined benefit pension plans (Thompson, 1980, 118). Following this, the state of California and its local governments have a problem of underfunded and unfunded public pension liabilities that was estimated to be around $583 billion (Nava & Christensen, 2015, 1). Despite the fact that the implementation of PEPRA was significant, its impact will be minimal over an extended period, and it has many weaknesses that include failure to address the currently underfunded pension liability

For pensions and post-retirement accounting methods to recognize the benefit costs, estimates and assumptions on future events ascertaining the timing and amount of benefits payments must be sought first. This paper seeks to compare and contrast the early historical accounting for pensions and post-retirement healthcare and life insurance benefits with the rules and guidance applied today in addition to the changes to such guidance and rules that would improve the accounting and reporting of such benefits depending on the business and political changes and as such, predict the effect of such changes on financial reporting and accounting practices.

Legislators argue that employees are losing out, even though the government requires businesses that terminate pension funds to help pay out benefits employees. According to the collective bargaining agreements labor unions will create employee pension plans and other benefits. Due to the increase in pension and benefit plans per employee, businesses compare rates to the open market. After the retirement of employees, businesses are required to fund pensions because of pension plan agreements. Also, unions can increase pension and benefit plans when negotiating new collective bargaining agreements, continually raising this business cost.

Why exactly would managers need to be concerned with pension plans? The answer is much more difficult than the question itself. Managers are more than just people who are directing tasks to employees. They also have to think about the future as well as what is good for their company. Pension plans have come under attack lately, especially in the federal government. This issue is forcing managers to be more concerned with what their people are thinking about than the normal day to day business.

If an individual is lucky enough to find a position where the employer offers a pension plan, younger individuals change jobs more frequently making it less likely that they will qualify for pension benefits. In fact, 70% of Generation Y employees left their first job within only 2 years, not long enough to vest in many pension plans or even to get the employer’s 401(k) match (Davidson, 2012).

Accordingly, the $39.3 million actuarial gain which resulted from the restructuring is included in Accrued Pension Costs in the accompanying Balance Sheet and is being amortized to income over a ten-year period commencing in 1984. The effect of the changes in the investment return assumption rates for all U.S. plans, together with the 1984 restructuring of the U.S. Salaried Employees' Plan, was to reduce pension expense by approximately $4.0 million in 1984 and $2.0 million in 1983, and the actuarial present value of accumulated plan benefits by approximately $60.0 million in 1984. Pension expense in 1983 was also reduced $2.1 million from the lower level of active employees. Other actuarial gains, including higher than anticipated investment results, more than offset the additional pension costs resulting from plan changes and interest charges on balance sheet accruals in 1984 and 1983.

The first pension plan offered by an American employer was that of American Express in the year 1875. Amex’s plan did not resemble the plans that we see in today’s time; the first “modern” defined benefit plan was created in 1940 by the automotive behemoth General Motors. These plans of the past still do not resemble plans that we are familiar with today. In the past, employers could exercise a “pension put” option and, in essence, close the plan down at the