This Section, which is an integral part of the requirements of this Subtopic, provides general guidance related to accounting and disclosure requirements of defined contribution pension and other postretirement benefit plans.
The defined benefit plan is commonly described as a floor-offset plan. As participants' account balances in the defined contribution plan grow, the employer's obligation under the defined benefit plan diminishes. However, the nature of the employer's obligation under each plan, how that obligation is satisfied, the availability of plan assets to pay benefits, and the accounting for a defined benefit versus a defined contribution plan are sufficiently dissimilar for the two plans that they cannot be considered a single plan for purposes of applying the guidance in this Subtopic. See paragraphs
for additional guidance on floor-offset plans.
When an employer terminates a defined benefit plan and contributes the assets withdrawn to a defined contribution plan and the amount contributed is in excess of the employer's required (or maximum) annual contribution to the plan, the assets in excess of the required contribution are maintained in a suspense account pending allocation to plan participants. Those assets are not allocated to individual participants' accounts, and the employer retains the risks and rewards of ownership of the assets.
The excess contribution that is not allocated to individual participants shall be accounted for as an asset regardless of the source of funds to make the excess unallocated contribution (for example, either from an asset reversion of a defined benefit plan or otherwise).
The employer shall report the portion of the unallocated assets of the plan that consist of employer common stock as treasury stock in the employer's financial statements.
With respect to the employer's own debt securities and a third party's debt securities the employer shall report the portion of the unallocated assets of the plan that consist of employer debt securities as an asset rather than as an extinguishment of debt. This Subtopic applies only to employer debt securities included in the unallocated assets of a defined contribution plan and shall not apply to other circumstances in which an entity acquires its own debt securities. Debt securities, both of third parties and of the employer, included in the unallocated assets of a defined contribution plan shall be measured at the lower of cost or fair value with any write-downs reflected in the income statement.