Comprehensive Pension Plan Problem

Presented below is information related to the pension plan of Zimmer Inc. for the year 2011.

1. The service cost related to pension expense is $240,000 using the projected benefits approach.

2. The projected benefit obligation and the accumulated benefit obligation at the beginning of the year are $300,000 and $280,000, respectively. The expected return on plan assets is 9% and the settlement rate is 10%.

3. The accumulated OCI â?" prior service cost at the beginning of the year is $140,000. The company has a workforce of 200 employees, and all are expected to receive benefits under the plan. The total number of service-years is 1,000 and the service-years attributable to 2011 is 200. The company has decided to use the years-of-service method of amortization for these costs.

4. At the beginning of the period, fair value of pension plan assets, $280,000. The company had an Accumulated OCI (loss) at the beginning of the period of $90,000. Any amortization of unrecognized net loss is recognized on a straight-line basis over the average remaining service-life of the employees.

5. The contribution made to the pension fund in 2011 was $231,000.

Instructions: (Please show step by step instruction on how to compute each of the following completely)

(a) Determine the pension expense to be reported on the income statement for 2011. (Round all computations to nearest dollar.)

(b) Prepare the journal entry(ies) to record pension expense for 2011.