Presented below is information related to the pension plan of Cullumber Inc. for the year $2026.$

The service cost related to pension expense is $$232,000$ using the projected benefits approach.

The projected benefit obligation and the fair value of the plan assets at the beginning of the year are $$312,000$ and $$264,000,$ respectively. The expected return on plan assets is $9\%$ and the settlement rate is $10\%.$

The accumulated OCl $-$ prior service cost at the beginning of the year is $$132,000.$ The company has a workforce of $200$ employees, all who are expented to receive benefits under the plan. The total number of service$-$years is $1,000$ and the service$-$years attributable to $2026$ is $200.$ The company has decided to use the years$-$of$-$service method of amortization for these costs.

At the beginning of the period, the fair value of pension plan assets was $$264,000.$ The company had an Accumulated OCl $($loss$)$ at the beginning of the period of $$82,000.$ Any amortization of unrecognized net loss is recognized on a straight$-$line basis over the average remaining service$-$life of the employees.

The contribution made to the pension fund in $2026$ was $$221,000.$

$($a$)$

Determine the pension expense to be reported on the income statement for $2026.($Round answer to O decimal places, eg$\mathrm{.}1525.)$

Pension expense $