prior service cost

Expenses1

1. 715-30Defined Benefit Plans—Pension715 Compensation—Retirement Benefits

   ASC 715-30 governs an employer's accounting for single-employer defined benefit pension plans: it requires the employer to recognize the plan's funded status (projected benefit obligation versus fair value of plan assets) on the balance sheet and to recognize net periodic pension cost made up of service cost, interest cost, actual return on plan assets, and amortization of prior service cost/credit, net gain or loss, and any remaining transition asset or obligation. Gains, losses, and prior service cost are first recognized in other comprehensive income and amortized into net periodic pension cost over time (subject to the 10 percent corridor for net gains and losses). Separate Subsections govern settlements, curtailments, and certain termination benefits, which accelerate recognition in earnings of amounts sitting in accumulated other comprehensive income.