The ED proposes amendments to FASB Statements No. 87, 88, 106, and 132(R) to require, among other things, that a company that sponsors a postretirement benefit plan fully recognise, as an asset or liability, the over-funded or under-funded status of its benefit plan in its balance sheet. The proposal is designed to partially tackle certain important deficiencies the FASB finds in today's pension accounting:
- Changes in a plan's assets and its benefit obligation are not recognised as they occur.
- Important information about postretirement plans is relegated to the footnotes rather than being recognised in the financial statements.
Key concepts of this ED are summarised in a new
(PDF 128k), published by Deloitte & Touche LLP (USA).