Pensions

Address the following elements in the form of a memo to your CEO:

A. From your company’s financial information, what type of pension plan does it have? Discuss the reasons why your company has chosen this particular plan.

B. What was the effect of the pension plan on your company’s financial statements? Defend your response.

C. Your CEO has informed you—the controller of your company—that the board of directors has made the decision to look at other options of types of retirement plans. Investigate what other alternatives would be available, and determine which would be appropriate for your particular company.

Company=Target

From their 2015 annual report:

Pension accounting: We maintain a funded qualified, defined benefit pension plan, as well as several smaller and unfunded nonqualified plans for certain current and retired team members. The costs for these plans are determined based on actuarial calculations using the assumptions described in the following paragraphs. Eligibility and the level of benefits varies depending on team members' full-time or part-time status, date of hire, and/or length of service. The benefit obligation and related expense for these plans are determined based on actuarial calculations using assumptions about the expected long-term rate of return, the discount rate, and compensation growth rates. The assumptions, with adjustments made for any significant plan or participant changes, are used to determine the period-end benefit obligation and establish expense for the next year. Our 2015 expected long-term rate of return on plan assets of 7.5 percent is determined by the portfolio composition, historical long-term investment performance, and current market conditions. Our compound annual rate of return on qualified plans' assets was 8.4 percent, 7.2 percent, 6.8 percent, and 8.5 percent for the 5-year, 10-year, 15-year, and 20-year periods, respectively. A one percentage point decrease in our expected long-term rate of return would increase annual expense by $35 million. Based on a change in our asset allocation policy in late 2015, our expected long-term rate of return is 6.8 percent for 2016. The discount rate used to determine benefit obligations is adjusted annually based on the interest rate for long-term high-quality corporate bonds, using yields for maturities that are in line with the duration of our pension liabilities. Our benefit obligation and related expense will fluctuate with changes in interest rates. A 0.5 percentage point decrease to the weighted average discount rate would increase annual expense by $32 million. Based on our experience, we use a graduated compensation growth schedule that assumes higher compensation growth for younger, shorter-service pension-eligible team members than it does for older, longer-service pensioneligible team members.