On January 1, 2016, Parkway Company adopted a defined benefit pension plan. At that time, Parkway awarded
Question:
On January 1, 2016, Parkway Company adopted a defined benefit pension plan. At that time, Parkway awarded retroactive benefits to its employees, resulting in a prior service cost of $2,180,000 on that date (which it did not fund). Parkway decided to amortize this cost by the straight-line method over the 16 year average remaining service life of its active participating employees. Parkway's actuary and funding agency have also provided the following additional information for 2016 and 2017:
Parkway contributed $670,000 and $700,000 to the pension fund at the end of 2016 and 2017, respectively. There arc no other components of Parkway's pension expense. At the end of 2017, the projected benefit obligation was $3,359,800 and the fair value of the pension plan assets was $1,430,300.
Required:
1. Compute the amount of Parkway's pension expense for 2016 and 2017.
2. All the journal entries related to Parkway's pension plan for 2016 and 2017.
3. What is the total accrued/prepaid pension cost at the end of 2017? Is it an asset or a liability?