# ASC 715-912: Compensation—Retirement Benefits — Contractors—Federal Government

Source: FASB Accounting Standards Codification, Basic View

[Read online](https://asc.understandingaccounting.org/asc/715/912/)

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.

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## ASC 715-912: Compensation—Retirement Benefits — Contractors—Federal Government

### Machine-generated study aids

```json
{
  "summary": "ASC 715-912 is the industry-specific overlay applying retirement benefit accounting to government contractors. Its scope mirrors the Contractors—Federal Government Overall Subtopic (912-10-15), and its only substantive requirement is a disclosure consideration: contractors should consider disclosing the effect of the government's rights to any excess pension plan assets if a plan terminates.",
  "key_points": [
    "The Subtopic provides guidance to government contractors on compensation and postretirement employee benefit costs (715-912-05-1).",
    "Scope and scope exceptions are the same as the Contractors—Federal Government Overall Subtopic in Section 912-10-15 (715-912-15-1).",
    "Contractors shall consider disclosing the effect, if any, of the government's rights with respect to any excess pension plan assets in the event of a plan termination (715-912-50-1).",
    "The Subtopic adds no separate recognition or measurement rules; the general pension and OPEB guidance in Topic 715 continues to apply."
  ],
  "categories": [
    "Disclosure",
    "Compensation and benefits",
    "Industry-specific"
  ],
  "audience_level": "intermediate",
  "student_note": "Remember this as a disclosure-only overlay: when a federal contractor's pension plan holds surplus assets, the government may have a claim on that surplus upon termination, and that fact should be disclosed. A common misunderstanding is thinking ASC 715-912 changes how pension cost is measured or reimbursed—it does neither; measurement still follows Topic 715.",
  "related_topics": [
    "912-10",
    "715-20",
    "715-30",
    "715-60",
    "912-20"
  ],
  "key_concepts": [
    "government contractors",
    "excess pension plan assets",
    "plan termination",
    "postretirement benefit costs",
    "government's rights to plan assets",
    "industry-specific disclosure"
  ]
}
```

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## ASC 715-912-05: 05 Overview and Background

[Read section](https://asc.understandingaccounting.org/asc/715/912/#05-overview-and-background)

SEC content: no

##### [715-912-05-1](https://asc.understandingaccounting.org/asc/715/912/#715-912-05-1)

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This Subtopic provides guidance to government contractors related to compensation and postretirement employee benefit costs.

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## ASC 715-912-15: 15 Scope and Scope Exceptions

[Read section](https://asc.understandingaccounting.org/asc/715/912/#15-scope-and-scope-exceptions)

SEC content: no

#### Overall Guidance

##### [715-912-15-1](https://asc.understandingaccounting.org/asc/715/912/#715-912-15-1)

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This Subtopic follows the same Scope and Scope Exceptions as outlined in the Overall Subtopic, see Section 912-10-15.

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## ASC 715-912-50: 50 Disclosure

[Read section](https://asc.understandingaccounting.org/asc/715/912/#50-disclosure)

SEC content: no

#### Contractors' Compensation and Postretirement Employee Benefit Costs

##### [715-912-50-1](https://asc.understandingaccounting.org/asc/715/912/#715-912-50-1)

Pending content: no

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Contractors shall consider disclosing the effect, if any, of the government's rights with respect to any excess pension plan assets in the event of a plan termination.