Answer:
Credit to the PBO for $13,500
Explanation:
Defined benefit pension plan is a pension structure adopted by a company in which an employee is guaranteed payments in the future for example after retirement. Since the payments are given far into the future, complex calculations are required to compute how to account for annual expenses and changes in pension obligation.
Now, under the above plan, the amount of the future benefits that will be paid for by the company depends on a multitude of factors such length of time served, an employee lifespan. The annual expense needs to match the recognition of the related expense in the period in which the particular employee renders the service for which they will be paid in the future.
So, the formula for Periodic (Annual) Pension Expense is Interest Costs (Interest incurred on the beginning Projected Benefit Obligation) + Service Costs (Present Value of the projected retirement benefits earned in the current period) - Actual Return on Plan Assets (the returns provided by the assets held under the Company's pension plan) + Amortization of Prior Service Costs (changes to pension expense as a retroactive amendments to the pension plan) +/- Amortization of Actuarial Gains or Losses (the change in the PBO as a result of changes in assumptions used to calculate the PBO).
The question provides us with the interest costs, the services costs, and the expected return on plan assets with other costs being nil.
Therefore, annual pension expense is Service Costs + Interest Costs - Expected Return on Plan Assets = 18,500 + 5,500 - 10,500 = 13,500.
The journal entry is a credit to the PBO of the amount of the expense and a debit to the Pension Expense. Note that the difference between ending PBO and beginning PBO is NOT equivalent to annual expense since other items such as company's contribution and changes in fair value of the liability also impact the PBO.
