Kessler, Inc. received the following information from its pension plan trustee concerning the operation of the company's defined-benefit pension plan for the year ended December 31, 2018:

January 1, 2018 December 31, 2018

Projected benefit obligation $2,500,000 $2,850,000

Fair value of plan assets 1,250,000 1,600,000

Accumulated benefit obligation 1,930,000 2,620,000

Accumulated OCI (PSC) 540,000 300,000

The service cost component for 2018 is $180,000 and the amortization of prior service cost is $240,000. The company's actual funding of the plan in 2018 amounted to $525,000. The expected return on plan assets and the settlement rate were both 8%.

Instructions

(a) Determine the pension expense to be reported in 2018.

(b) Prepare the journal entry to record pension expense and the employers' contribution to the pension plan in 2018.

Please use the worksheet to answer this question.

	General Journal Entries on Company's Books				Memo Record Only
	Annual		OCI	Pension	Projected
	Pension		Prior	Asset	Benefit	Plan
	Expense	Cash	SC	Liability	Obligation	Assets
Bal. 1/1/
Service Cost
Interest Cost
Actual Return
PSC Amortize
Contributions
Benefits Paid
Subtotal "J/E"
Bal. 12/31