Reference no: EM131997898

In 2016 RD had consulted with an actuary to consider the creation of a defined benefit pension plan for the company's founder. On January 1, 2017 the company implemented its plan. Based on calculations by the actuarial consultant, past service costs related to the plan were $23,000 and RD paid this amount on January 1, 2017 to a third party trust. The Controller credited cash and debited Prepaid pension expense for the $23,000. The actuary calculated the annual service cost for 2017 to be $18,000 and the discount rate to be 5%. Further, the actuary determined the actual return on plan assets for the year was $2,500 and the value of the Defined benefit obligation at year-end was $50,150. The prior Controller has done no accounting for this plan other than the initial $23,000 payment for past service costs. No other payments have been made during the year. You have chosen to use a Remeasurement Loss - OCI account for unusual items. Having been horribly confused by Pension accounting during your studies, you phoned your old Intermediate Accounting instructor who provided the following guidance: - the $23,000 is both a Past Service Cost and a Contribution - Interest expense should be calculated based on the $23,000 DBO that was created on January 1 - the difference between the ending DBO calculated by the actuary and the DBO based on your calculations must be related to an Actuarial Gain/Loss.