{"schema_version":2,"canonical_url":"https://asc.understandingaccounting.org/asc/205/960/#00-status","source":"FASB Accounting Standards Codification, Basic View","usage":"Study and research edition. Verify current requirements with the official source. Summaries, enrichment, and tags are machine-generated study aids. Paragraph html preserves source markup; snippet is abbreviated. Pending content is not necessarily effective.","topic":"205","topic_title":"Presentation of Financial Statements","subtopic":"205-960","subtopic_title":"Plan Accounting—Defined Benefit Pension Plans","section":{"number":"00","label":"00 Status","anchor":"00-status","is_sec":false,"groups":[{"block":null,"heading":null,"paragraphs":[{"citation":"205-960-00-1","para":"00-1","html":"<div class=\"asc-body\"><div class=\"norm-text\">The following table identifies the changes made to this Subtopic.</div><div class=\"norm-text\"><table class=\"asc-table\" id=\"SL50391028-161940\"><tr><td class=\"entry\"><strong class=\"ph b\">Paragraph</strong></td><td class=\"entry\"><strong class=\"ph b\">Action</strong></td><td class=\"entry\"><strong class=\"ph b\">Accounting Standards Update</strong></td><td class=\"entry\"><strong class=\"ph b\">Date</strong></td></tr><tr><td class=\"entry\"></td><td class=\"entry\"></td><td class=\"entry\"></td><td class=\"entry\"></td></tr><tr><td class=\"entry\"><a href=\"/glossary/b/#benefits\" class=\"term\" title=\"The monetary or in-kind benefits or benefit coverage to which participants may be entitled under a pension plan or a health and welfare plan (which can include active, terminated, and retired employees or their dependents or beneficiaries). Examples of benefits may include, but are not limited to, health care benefits, life insurance, legal, educational, and advisory services, pension benefits, disability benefits, death benefits, and benefits due to termination of employment.\"><span>Benefits</span></a></td><td class=\"entry\">Amended</td><td class=\"entry\"><a href=\"/updates/asu-2016-19/\" class=\"xref\">Accounting Standards Update No. 2016-19</a></td><td class=\"entry\">12/14/2016</td></tr><tr><td class=\"entry\"><strong class=\"ph b\">Benefits</strong> (1st def.)</td><td class=\"entry\">Superseded</td><td class=\"entry\"><a href=\"/updates/asu-2014-06/\" class=\"xref\">Accounting Standards Update No. 2014-06</a></td><td class=\"entry\">03/14/2014</td></tr><tr><td class=\"entry\"><a href=\"/glossary/b/#benefits\" class=\"term\" title=\"The monetary or in-kind benefits or benefit coverage to which participants may be entitled under a pension plan or a health and welfare plan (which can include active, terminated, and retired employees or their dependents or beneficiaries). Examples of benefits may include, but are not limited to, health care benefits, life insurance, legal, educational, and advisory services, pension benefits, disability benefits, death benefits, and benefits due to termination of employment.\"><span>Benefits</span></a> (3rd def.)</td><td class=\"entry\">Added</td><td class=\"entry\"><a href=\"/updates/asu-2014-06/\" class=\"xref\">Accounting Standards Update No. 2014-06</a></td><td class=\"entry\">03/14/2014</td></tr><tr><td class=\"entry\"><a href=\"/glossary/c/#contract-value\" class=\"term\" title=\"The value of an unallocated contract that is determined by the insurance entity in accordance with the terms of the contract.\"><span>Contract Value</span></a></td><td class=\"entry\">Amended</td><td class=\"entry\"><a href=\"/updates/asu-2014-06/\" class=\"xref\">Accounting Standards Update No. 2014-06</a></td><td class=\"entry\">03/14/2014</td></tr><tr><td class=\"entry\"><strong class=\"ph b\">Contributory Plan</strong> (1st def.)</td><td class=\"entry\">Superseded</td><td class=\"entry\"><a href=\"/updates/asu-2014-06/\" class=\"xref\">Accounting Standards Update No. 2014-06</a></td><td class=\"entry\">03/14/2014</td></tr><tr><td class=\"entry\"><a href=\"/glossary/c/#contributory-plan\" class=\"term\" title=\"A plan under which retirees or active employees contribute part of the cost. In some contributory plans, retirees or active employees wishing to be covered must contribute; in other contributory plans, participants' contributions result in increased benefits.\"><span>Contributory Plan</span></a> (2nd def.)</td><td class=\"entry\">Added</td><td class=\"entry\"><a href=\"/updates/asu-2014-06/\" class=\"xref\">Accounting Standards Update No. 2014-06</a></td><td class=\"entry\">03/14/2014</td></tr><tr><td class=\"entry\"><a href=\"/glossary/d/#defined-benefit-plan\" class=\"term\" title=\"A defined benefit plan provides participants with a determinable benefit based on a formula provided for in the plan. Defined benefit health and welfare plans—Defined benefit health and welfare plans specify a determinable benefit, which may be in the form of a reimbursement to the covered plan participant or a direct payment to providers or third-party insurers for the cost of specified services. Such plans may also include benefits that are payable as a lump sum, such as death benefits. The level of benefits may be defined or limited based on factors such as age, years of service, and salary. Contributions may be determined by the plan's actuary or be based on premiums, actual claims paid, hours worked, or other factors determined by the plan sponsor. Even when a plan is funded pursuant to agreements that specify a fixed rate of employer contributions (for example, a collectively bargained multiemployer plan), such a plan may nevertheless be a defined benefit health and welfare plan if its substance is to provide a defined benefit. Defined benefit pension plan—A pension plan that defines an amount of pension benefit to be provided, usually as a function of one or more factors such as age, years of service, or compensation. Any pension plan that is not a defined contribution pension plan is, for purposes of Subtopic 715-30, a defined benefit pension plan. Defined benefit postretirement plan—A plan that defines postretirement benefits in terms of monetary amounts (for example, $100,000 of life insurance) or benefit coverage to be provided (for example, up to $200 per day for hospitalization, or 80 percent of the cost of specified surgical procedures). Any postretirement benefit plan that is not a defined contribution postretirement plan is, for purposes of Subtopic 715-60, a defined benefit postretirement plan. (Specified monetary amounts and benefit coverage are collectively referred to as benefits.)\"><span>Defined Benefit Plan</span></a></td><td class=\"entry\">Added</td><td class=\"entry\"><a href=\"/updates/asu-2014-06/\" class=\"xref\">Accounting Standards Update No. 2014-06</a></td><td class=\"entry\">03/14/2014</td></tr><tr><td class=\"entry\"><strong class=\"ph b\">Defined Benefit Pension Plan</strong> (1st def.)</td><td class=\"entry\">Superseded</td><td class=\"entry\"><a href=\"/updates/asu-2014-06/\" class=\"xref\">Accounting Standards Update No. 2014-06</a></td><td class=\"entry\">03/14/2014</td></tr><tr><td class=\"entry\"><strong class=\"ph b\">Funding Policy</strong> (1st def.)</td><td class=\"entry\">Superseded</td><td class=\"entry\"><a href=\"/updates/asu-2014-06/\" class=\"xref\">Accounting Standards Update No. 2014-06</a></td><td class=\"entry\">03/14/2014</td></tr><tr><td class=\"entry\"><a href=\"/glossary/f/#funding-policy\" class=\"term\" title=\"The program regarding the amounts and timing of contributions by the employers, plan participants, and any other sources (for example, state subsidies or federal grants) to provide the benefits a pension plan or other postretirement benefit plan specifies.\"><span>Funding Policy</span></a> (3rd def.)</td><td class=\"entry\">Added</td><td class=\"entry\"><a href=\"/updates/asu-2014-06/\" class=\"xref\">Accounting Standards Update No. 2014-06</a></td><td class=\"entry\">03/14/2014</td></tr><tr><td class=\"entry\"><strong class=\"ph b\">Pension Benefits</strong> (1st def.)</td><td class=\"entry\">Superseded</td><td class=\"entry\"><a href=\"/updates/asu-2014-06/\" class=\"xref\">Accounting Standards Update No. 2014-06</a></td><td class=\"entry\">03/14/2014</td></tr><tr><td class=\"entry\"><a href=\"/glossary/p/#pension-benefits\" class=\"term\" title=\"Periodic (usually monthly) payments made pursuant to the terms of the pension plan to a person who has retired from employment or to that person's beneficiary.\"><span>Pension Benefits</span></a> (2nd def.)</td><td class=\"entry\">Added</td><td class=\"entry\"><a href=\"/updates/asu-2014-06/\" class=\"xref\">Accounting Standards Update No. 2014-06</a></td><td class=\"entry\">03/14/2014</td></tr><tr><td class=\"entry\"><a href=\"/glossary/p/#pension-fund\" class=\"term\" title=\"The assets of a pension plan held by a funding agency.\"><span>Pension Fund</span></a></td><td class=\"entry\">Added</td><td class=\"entry\"><a href=\"/updates/asu-2014-06/\" class=\"xref\">Accounting Standards Update No. 2014-06</a></td><td class=\"entry\">03/14/2014</td></tr><tr><td class=\"entry\"><a href=\"/glossary/p/#plan-assets\" class=\"term\" title=\"Assets—usually stocks, bonds, and other investments—that have been segregated and restricted, usually in a trust, to provide for pension benefits. The amount of plan assets includes amounts contributed by the employer, and by employees for a contributory plan, and amounts earned from investing the contributions, less benefits paid. Plan assets ordinarily cannot be withdrawn by the employer except under certain circumstances when a plan has assets in excess of obligations and the employer has taken certain steps to satisfy existing obligations. Assets not segregated in a trust or otherwise effectively restricted so that they cannot be used by the employer for other purposes are not plan assets even though it may be intended that such assets be used to provide pensions. If a plan has liabilities other than for benefits, those nonbenefit obligations may be considered as reductions of plan assets. Amounts accrued by the employer but not yet paid to the plan are not plan assets. Securities of the employer held by the plan are includable in plan assets provided they are transferable.\"><span>Plan Assets</span></a> (2nd def.)</td><td class=\"entry\">Added</td><td class=\"entry\"><a href=\"/updates/asu-2014-06/\" class=\"xref\">Accounting Standards Update No. 2014-06</a></td><td class=\"entry\">03/14/2014</td></tr><tr><td class=\"entry\"><strong class=\"ph b\">Service</strong> (1st def.)</td><td class=\"entry\">Superseded</td><td class=\"entry\"><a href=\"/updates/asu-2014-06/\" class=\"xref\">Accounting Standards Update No. 2014-06</a></td><td class=\"entry\">03/14/2014</td></tr><tr><td class=\"entry\"><a href=\"/glossary/s/#service\" class=\"term\" title=\"Employment taken into consideration under a pension plan. Years of employment before the inception of a plan constitute an employee's past service; years thereafter are classified in relation to the particular actuarial valuation being made or discussed. Years of employment (including past service) before the date of a particular valuation constitute prior service; years of employment following the date of the valuation constitute future service; a year of employment adjacent to the date of valuation, or in which such date falls, constitutes current service.\"><span>Service</span></a> (2nd def.)</td><td class=\"entry\">Added</td><td class=\"entry\"><a href=\"/updates/asu-2014-06/\" class=\"xref\">Accounting Standards Update No. 2014-06</a></td><td class=\"entry\">03/14/2014</td></tr><tr><td class=\"entry\"><strong class=\"ph b\">Sponsor</strong> (1st def.)</td><td class=\"entry\">Superseded</td><td class=\"entry\"><a href=\"/updates/asu-2014-06/\" class=\"xref\">Accounting Standards Update No. 2014-06</a></td><td class=\"entry\">03/14/2014</td></tr><tr><td class=\"entry\"><a href=\"/glossary/s/#sponsor\" class=\"term\" title=\"In the case of a pension plan established or maintained by a single employer, the employer; in the case of a plan established or maintained by an employee entity, the employee entity; in the case of a plan established or maintained jointly by two or more employers or by one or more employers and one or more employee entities, the association, committee, joint board of trustees, or other group of representatives of the parties that have established or that maintain the pension plan.\"><span>Sponsor</span></a> (3rd def.)</td><td class=\"entry\">Added</td><td class=\"entry\"><a href=\"/updates/asu-2014-06/\" class=\"xref\">Accounting Standards Update No. 2014-06</a></td><td class=\"entry\">03/14/2014</td></tr><tr><td class=\"entry\"><strong class=\"ph b\">Unallocated Contract</strong> (1st def.)</td><td class=\"entry\">Superseded</td><td class=\"entry\"><a href=\"/updates/asu-2014-06/\" class=\"xref\">Accounting Standards Update No. 2014-06</a></td><td class=\"entry\">03/14/2014</td></tr><tr><td class=\"entry\"><a href=\"/glossary/u/#unallocated-contract\" class=\"term\" title=\"A contract with an insurance entity under which payments to the insurance entity are accumulated in an unallocated fund (not allocated to specific plan participants) to be used either directly or through the purchase of annuities, to meet benefit payments when employees retire. Funds held by the insurance entity under an unallocated contract may be withdrawn and otherwise invested.\"><span>Unallocated Contract</span></a> (2nd def.)</td><td class=\"entry\">Added</td><td class=\"entry\"><a href=\"/updates/asu-2014-06/\" class=\"xref\">Accounting Standards Update No. 2014-06</a></td><td class=\"entry\">03/14/2014</td></tr><tr><td class=\"entry\"><strong class=\"ph b\">Vested Benefits</strong> (1st def.)</td><td class=\"entry\">Superseded</td><td class=\"entry\"><a href=\"/updates/asu-2014-06/\" class=\"xref\">Accounting Standards Update No. 2014-06</a></td><td class=\"entry\">03/14/2014</td></tr><tr><td class=\"entry\"><a href=\"/glossary/v/#vested-benefits\" class=\"term\" title=\"Benefits for which the employee's right to receive a present or future pension benefit is no longer contingent on remaining in the service of the employer. (Other conditions, such as inadequacy of the pension fund, may prevent the employee from receiving the vested benefit.) Under graded vesting, the initial vested right may be to receive in the future a stated percentage of a pension based on the number of years of accumulated credited service; thereafter, the percentage may increase with the number of years of service or of age until the right to receive the entire benefit has vested.\"><span>Vested Benefits</span></a> (2nd def.)</td><td class=\"entry\">Added</td><td class=\"entry\"><a href=\"/updates/asu-2014-06/\" class=\"xref\">Accounting Standards Update No. 2014-06</a></td><td class=\"entry\">03/14/2014</td></tr><tr><td class=\"entry\"></td><td class=\"entry\"></td><td class=\"entry\"></td><td class=\"entry\"></td></tr><tr><td class=\"entry\"><a href=\"/asc/205/960/#205-960-05-1\" class=\"xref\">960-205-05-1</a></td><td class=\"entry\">Amended</td><td class=\"entry\"><a href=\"/updates/asu-2014-06/\" class=\"xref\">Accounting Standards Update No. 2014-06</a></td><td class=\"entry\">03/14/2014</td></tr><tr><td class=\"entry\"><a href=\"/asc/205/960/#205-960-05-2\" class=\"xref\">960-205-05-2</a></td><td class=\"entry\">Amended</td><td class=\"entry\"><a href=\"/updates/asu-2014-06/\" class=\"xref\">Accounting Standards Update No. 2014-06</a></td><td class=\"entry\">03/14/2014</td></tr><tr><td class=\"entry\"><a href=\"/asc/205/960/#205-960-10-1\" class=\"xref\">960-205-10-1</a></td><td class=\"entry\">Amended</td><td class=\"entry\"><a href=\"/updates/asu-2014-06/\" class=\"xref\">Accounting Standards Update No. 2014-06</a></td><td class=\"entry\">03/14/2014</td></tr><tr><td class=\"entry\"><a href=\"/asc/205/960/#205-960-45-2\" class=\"xref\">960-205-45-2</a></td><td class=\"entry\">Amended</td><td class=\"entry\"><a href=\"/updates/asu-2014-06/\" class=\"xref\">Accounting Standards Update No. 2014-06</a></td><td class=\"entry\">03/14/2014</td></tr><tr><td class=\"entry\"><a href=\"/asc/205/960/#205-960-45-4\" class=\"xref\">960-205-45-4</a></td><td class=\"entry\">Amended</td><td class=\"entry\"><a href=\"/updates/asu-2014-06/\" class=\"xref\">Accounting Standards Update No. 2014-06</a></td><td class=\"entry\">03/14/2014</td></tr><tr><td class=\"entry\"><a href=\"/asc/205/960/#205-960-45-7\" class=\"xref\">960-205-45-7</a></td><td class=\"entry\">Added</td><td class=\"entry\"><a href=\"/updates/asu-2017-06/\" class=\"xref\">Accounting Standards Update No. 2017-06</a></td><td class=\"entry\">02/27/2017</td></tr><tr><td class=\"entry\"><a href=\"/asc/205/960/#205-960-50-1\" class=\"xref\">960-205-50-1</a></td><td class=\"entry\">Amended</td><td class=\"entry\"><a href=\"/updates/asu-2014-06/\" class=\"xref\">Accounting Standards Update No. 2014-06</a></td><td class=\"entry\">03/14/2014</td></tr><tr><td class=\"entry\"><a href=\"/asc/205/960/#205-960-50-5\" class=\"xref\">960-205-50-5</a></td><td class=\"entry\">Amended</td><td class=\"entry\"><a href=\"/updates/asu-2014-06/\" class=\"xref\">Accounting Standards Update No. 2014-06</a></td><td class=\"entry\">03/14/2014</td></tr><tr><td class=\"entry\"><a href=\"/asc/205/960/#205-960-55-1\" class=\"xref\">960-205-55-1</a></td><td class=\"entry\">Amended</td><td class=\"entry\"><a href=\"/updates/asu-2015-12/\" class=\"xref\">Accounting Standards Update No. 2015-12</a> (Part II)</td><td class=\"entry\">07/31/2015</td></tr><tr><td class=\"entry\"><a href=\"/asc/205/960/#205-960-55-1\" class=\"xref\">960-205-55-1</a></td><td class=\"entry\">Amended</td><td class=\"entry\"><a href=\"/updates/asu-2014-06/\" class=\"xref\">Accounting Standards Update No. 2014-06</a></td><td class=\"entry\">03/14/2014</td></tr><tr><td class=\"entry\"><a href=\"/asc/205/960/#205-960-55-2\" class=\"xref\">960-205-55-2</a></td><td class=\"entry\">Amended</td><td class=\"entry\"><a href=\"/updates/asu-2014-06/\" class=\"xref\">Accounting Standards Update No. 2014-06</a></td><td class=\"entry\">03/14/2014</td></tr></table></div></div>","snippet":"The following table identifies the changes made to this Subtopic.\nParagraph | Action | Accounting Standards Update | Date |\n| | | |\nBenefits | Amended | Accounting Standards Update No. 2016-19 | 12/14/2016 |\nBenefits (1s…","pending":false,"provenance":{"source_url":"https://asc.fasb.org/","snapshot_version":"sha256:15aea8165dff9f5ae47d9484f8470588b13b307f56e1d50801bf4d85ec190e3f","record_version":"sha256:85cf1a6d170232adf1b9a8922f5a09cf2df6e2026e48394278bb83ca3926857d","downloaded_from":"2026-09-09T22:56:15.107Z","last_downloaded_at":"2026-09-09T22:56:15.107Z","date_scope":"source_page","effective_as_of":null,"effective_as_of_status":"Not established by retrieval 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