# ASC 715-10-15: Compensation—Retirement Benefits — Overall — 15 Scope and Scope Exceptions Source: FASB Accounting Standards Codification, Basic View [Read online](https://asc.understandingaccounting.org/asc/715/10/#15-scope-and-scope-exceptions) 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. Tables and mathematical or amendment markup are retained as HTML where Markdown would lose structure. Source downloaded (UTC): 2026-09-10T00:58:55.606Z to 2026-09-10T00:58:55.606Z Record version: sha256:d6f5d140e07834928f86aaac578723f1c3e8cbec1ce54ce96c83419e18e8460d Snapshot version: sha256:15aea8165dff9f5ae47d9484f8470588b13b307f56e1d50801bf4d85ec190e3f Effective as of: not established by retrieval timestamps. ## ASC 715-10-15: 15 Scope and Scope Exceptions [Read section](https://asc.understandingaccounting.org/asc/715/10/#15-scope-and-scope-exceptions) SEC content: no #### Overall Guidance ##### [715-10-15-1](https://asc.understandingaccounting.org/asc/715/10/#715-10-15-1) Pending content: no Source downloaded (UTC): 2026-09-10T00:58:55.606Z to 2026-09-10T00:58:55.606Z Record version: sha256:c576e5f5c8ab6a6c4353a55ef885f4a83a7bda5ad415a66f89bbc7ad8a9688e7 Snapshot version: sha256:15aea8165dff9f5ae47d9484f8470588b13b307f56e1d50801bf4d85ec190e3f Effective as of: not established by retrieval timestamps. The Scope Section of the Overall Subtopic establishes the pervasive scope for all Subtopics of the Compensation—Retirement Benefits Topic. Unless explicitly addressed within specific Subtopics, the following scope guidance applies to all Subtopics of the Compensation—Retirement Benefits Topic. #### Entities ##### [715-10-15-2](https://asc.understandingaccounting.org/asc/715/10/#715-10-15-2) Pending content: no Source downloaded (UTC): 2026-09-10T00:58:55.606Z to 2026-09-10T00:58:55.606Z Record version: sha256:ae550a86b3ffb64c58ebd7a941b52ce392b8cf5b9dd21b9b35a06a13e3cb6774 Snapshot version: sha256:15aea8165dff9f5ae47d9484f8470588b13b307f56e1d50801bf4d85ec190e3f Effective as of: not established by retrieval timestamps. The guidance in the Compensation—Retirement Benefits Topic applies to all employers, including not-for-profit entities (NFPs), that offer pension or other postretirement benefits to their employees, regardless of whether the benefit obligation is funded. NFPs should refer to Subtopic 958-715 when applying the provisions of this Topic. #### Transactions ##### [715-10-15-3](https://asc.understandingaccounting.org/asc/715/10/#715-10-15-3) Pending content: no Source downloaded (UTC): 2026-09-10T00:58:55.606Z to 2026-09-10T00:58:55.606Z Record version: sha256:78e190aab00e6bd2e6d4d8e290180035a48b98ad0979cd5063498c4e7d5c35e3 Snapshot version: sha256:15aea8165dff9f5ae47d9484f8470588b13b307f56e1d50801bf4d85ec190e3f Effective as of: not established by retrieval timestamps. The guidance in the Compensation—Retirement Benefits Topic applies to the following types of benefit arrangements: 1. a Any arrangement that is in substance a pension or other postretirement benefit plan, regardless of its form or the means or timing of its funding 2. b Written plans and unwritten plans whose existence is discernible either from a practice of paying pension or other postretirement benefits or from oral representations made to current or former employees 3. c Deferred compensation contracts with individual employees if those contracts, taken together, are equivalent to a plan that provides pension or other postretirement benefits 4. d Health and other welfare benefits expected to be provided to employees deemed to be on a disability retirement. ##### [715-10-15-4](https://asc.understandingaccounting.org/asc/715/10/#715-10-15-4) Pending content: no Source downloaded (UTC): 2026-09-10T00:58:55.606Z to 2026-09-10T00:58:55.606Z Record version: sha256:59c2eb28384c5c98cc64e529ed3576b3312b7c726ea70d9475dc28c1148206b8 Snapshot version: sha256:15aea8165dff9f5ae47d9484f8470588b13b307f56e1d50801bf4d85ec190e3f Effective as of: not established by retrieval timestamps. The guidance in this Topic also applies to settlement of all or a part of an employer's pension or other postretirement benefit obligation or curtailment of a pension or other postretirement benefit plan. The guidance applies to employers that provide pension or other postretirement benefits as part of a special termination benefit or special or contractual termination benefits not otherwise addressed in other Subtopics (for example, benefits paid at or before retirement and not paid out of a pension or other postretirement plan). ##### [715-10-15-5](https://asc.understandingaccounting.org/asc/715/10/#715-10-15-5) Pending content: no Source downloaded (UTC): 2026-09-10T00:58:55.606Z to 2026-09-10T00:58:55.606Z Record version: sha256:40aea5bd01451131303c689d9db4a82e446a90f1bf4c62421f9b5e4b2913d825 Snapshot version: sha256:15aea8165dff9f5ae47d9484f8470588b13b307f56e1d50801bf4d85ec190e3f Effective as of: not established by retrieval timestamps. The guidance in this Topic does not apply to the following types of benefit arrangements: 1. a An employer's practice of providing pension or other postretirement benefits to selected employees under individual contracts with specific terms determined on an individual-by-individual basis. Those contracts shall be accounted for individually, following the terms of the contract. See Topic 710. 2. b Postemployment benefits paid after employment but before retirement (for example, layoff benefits), unless payable from a pension or other postretirement plan. See Topic 712. #### Other Considerations ##### [715-10-15-6](https://asc.understandingaccounting.org/asc/715/10/#715-10-15-6) Pending content: no Source downloaded (UTC): 2026-09-10T00:58:55.606Z to 2026-09-10T00:58:55.606Z Record version: sha256:b70d237790f80ebc96ae0bebe9ebd7dbf810ff202ba12f228262a850893ff104 Snapshot version: sha256:15aea8165dff9f5ae47d9484f8470588b13b307f56e1d50801bf4d85ec190e3f Effective as of: not established by retrieval timestamps. For purposes of preparing financial statements in accordance with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States, the Compensation—Retirement Benefits Topic includes no special provisions applicable to pension or other postretirement benefit plans or arrangements outside the United States. To the extent that those arrangements are in substance similar to pension or other postretirement benefit plans in the United States, they are subject to the provisions of this Topic. ##### [715-10-15-7](https://asc.understandingaccounting.org/asc/715/10/#715-10-15-7) Pending content: no Source downloaded (UTC): 2026-09-10T00:58:55.606Z to 2026-09-10T00:58:55.606Z Record version: sha256:ff8afc49ae64e96ed5bbcd71d681b23fac4ff8c8ef6f23b8bd9285d5eb9e225a Snapshot version: sha256:15aea8165dff9f5ae47d9484f8470588b13b307f56e1d50801bf4d85ec190e3f Effective as of: not established by retrieval timestamps. The applicability of this Topic to those plans or arrangements is determined by the nature of the obligation and by the terms or conditions that define the amount of benefits to be paid, not by whether or how a plan is funded, whether benefits are payable at intervals or as a single amount, or whether the benefits are required by law or custom or are provided under a plan the employer has elected to sponsor. ##### [715-10-15-8](https://asc.understandingaccounting.org/asc/715/10/#715-10-15-8) Pending content: no Source downloaded (UTC): 2026-09-10T00:58:55.606Z to 2026-09-10T00:58:55.606Z Record version: sha256:9e517e38bb5865c2e8733905c01ae8daa13ff9191fa7b5e06e636dc161b220f1 Snapshot version: sha256:15aea8165dff9f5ae47d9484f8470588b13b307f56e1d50801bf4d85ec190e3f Effective as of: not established by retrieval timestamps. This Topic does not change or supersede any of the requirements set forth in Topic 960 for the financial statements of a defined benefit pension plan.