You are the controller of a newly established technology firm that is offering a new pension plan to its employees. The plan was established on January 1, 2017, with an initial contribution by the employer equal to the actuarial estimate of the past service costs for the existing group of employees. These employees are expected to continue to work for the firm for 20 years, on average, prior to retirement. The company is considering going public in the next five years, and the president has asked you to keep her aware of the accounting changes in moving from ASPE to IFRS. She wants to be sure that the company always chooses the accounting policies that are closest to IFRS so that changes in the future when the company goes public will be minimized. In addition, she is interested in demonstrating a history of profits so that the company can be taken public successfully. The following information is available for you to work with.

		2017		2018		2019
Fair value of plan assets, beginning of year*		$75,000		?		?
DBO for funding purposes, beginning of year*		70,000		?		?
DBO for accounting purposes, beginning of year*		75,000		?		?
Current service cost for year		12,000		$13,000		$14,500
Discount rate		8%		8%		8%
Past service costs granted, January 1		75,000		0		0
Actual earnings on plan assets		6,500		10,000		8,000
Employer contributions for the year		12,000		15,000		16,000
Benefits paid to retirees by trustee		0		4,000		5,000

(a)

Without using a pension work sheet, determine the surplus or deficit position of the pension plan and the amount reported on the statement of financial position at each year end, the pension expense for each of the three years, and any remeasurement (gain) loss recorded in OCI for each of the three years, applying IFRS.

(b)

Without using a pension work sheet, determine the surplus or deficit position of the pension plan and the amount reported on the balance sheet at each year end, and the pension expense for each of the three years applying ASPE. State any assumptions you have made.

(c)

Prepare a short report to the company president concerning the accounting for the new pension plan. Make a recommendation to your employer about the approach that should be taken.