Reading 08 - Employee Compensation Flashcards

1
Q

What is the formula for calculating the number of treasury shares when calculating dilutive securities?

A
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2
Q

What is the formula for calculating assumed proceeds?

A
cash proceeds = number of options x exercise price (zero for stock grants)
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3
Q

What is the formula for calculating the ending PBO?

A
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4
Q

Pension Accounting:
What is:
* PBO
* Current service cost
* interest cost incl formula?

A

PBO (projected benefit obligation):
* Present value of all future pension payments earned to date based on expected salary increases over time

Current service cost:
* The change in PBO attributed to employees’ efforts during the year; the actuarial PV of pension benefits earned in a year

Interest cost:
* The increase in PBO resulting from the passage of time; PBO at the start of the period x discount rate

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5
Q

What is:
* actuarial gains/losses
* past service costs
* benefits paid?

A

Actuarial gains/losses:
* Gains and losses resulting from changes in actuarial assumptions

Past service costs:
* Changes in the PBO due to amendments to the pension plan that grant benefits for employee service in prior periods. e.g. changing the payout from 60% to 65% of final salary

Benefits paid:
* Payments made from the fund to existing retirees

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6
Q

Pension accounting:
What is the formula for calculating the FV of plan assets?

A
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7
Q

Pension Accounting IFRS vs. US GAAP:
What are the two main delayed events in the income statement?

A

Remeasurements:
* IFRS and US GAAP
* Actuarial gains and losses (affecting PBO) plus differences in actual and expected return on assets
* note: IFRS exp. return = discount rate

Past service costs:
* US GAAP ONLY - PBO changes due to plan amendements amortised over avg service life of plan participants
* IFRS - expensed immediately

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8
Q

Pension Accounting:
What is the formula for calculating the net period benefit costs under US GAAP?

Where do unamortised costs go and what are they?

A
Unamortised past service cost and actuarial gains and losses in OCI
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9
Q

Pension Accounting:
What is the formula for calculating the net period benefit costs under IFRS?
Where are remeasurements reflected and which are amortised?

A
Remeasurements are reflected in OCI and are not amortised
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10
Q

How is net interest expense/income calculated? And what does a positive or negative net cost mean?

A
+ve net cost = underfunded (adding to costs) -ve net cost = overfunded (reducing costs)
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11
Q

What rates are needed for IFRS and US GAAP calculations of benefit costs and what are they used to calculate?

A

US GAAP (different rates):
* discount rate: opening pbo x disocunt rate = interest expense
* %expected return: opening plan assers x %exoected return = $expected return

IFRS (ONE RATE ONLY)
* expected return = discount rate
* opening funded status x discount rate = net interest expense/income

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12
Q

In regards to a defined benefits plan, what does the funded status of the plan refer to ?

A

The difference between FV of plan assets and PBO

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13
Q

What is the** service cost**?

A

Is the present value of benefits earned by the employees during the current period

**Is immediately recognized in the income statement**

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14
Q

What is the interest cost?

A

Is the increase in the obligation due to the passage of time

= Beg. of period PBO * Discount Rate

**Is immediately recognized as a component of pesion expense**

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15
Q

What are past (prior) service costs?

A

Retroactive benefits awarded to employees when a plan is initiated or amended

IFRS: costs are expensed immediately

GAAP: costs are amortized over the average service life of the employee

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16
Q

What are Changes in actuarial assumptions?

A

The gains and losses that result from changes in variables such as mortality , employee turnover, retirement age, and the discount rate

17
Q

What is the formula to calculate the Fair Value of Plan Assets?

18
Q

What is the formula to calculate the value of the Projected Benefit Obligation (PBO) for a given yr?

19
Q

What are the 3 assumptions a firm discloses about its pension calculations?

A
  1. The discount rate : is based on interest rates for high quality dixed income investments with a maturity profile simialr to the future obligation
  2. The rate of compensation growth : the avg annual rate by which employee compensation is expected to increase over time
  3. The expected return on plan assets : the assummed long-term rate of return on the plan’s investments
20
Q

What will increasing the discount rate do to a defined benefit obligation?

A
  • Reduce present values, hence a lower PBO. Lower PBO improves the funding status
  • Usually results in lower pension expense b/c of lower current service cost.
  • Reduce interest cost
21
Q

What will decreasing the compensation growth rate do to a defined benefit obligation?

A
  • Reduce future pension payments
  • Reduce current service costs and lower interest cost
22
Q

How is the amount of Pension expense on the income statement calculated?

A

Net Periodic Benefit Costs

+ Service Cost

+ Interest Cost

  • Expected return on plan assets

+/- Amort of actuarial (gains) loss

+ Amortization of prior service costs

= Pension expense on income statement

23
Q

What will increasing the expected return on plan assets do to a defined benefit obligation?

A
  • Reduce pension expense
  • Not affect the benefit obligation or the funded status of the plan
24
Q

What are some things analysts may want to consider when comparing firms who use different accounting treatments for pensions?

A
  1. Gross vs. net pension assets/liabilities
  2. Differences in assumptions used (ie…different discount rates, investment returns)
  3. Differences between IFRS and GAAP in recognizing pension expense
  4. Diffferences due to classification in the income statement
25
Q

What are 2 reasons for netting pension assets and liabilities?

A
  1. The employer largely controls the plan assets and the obligation, therefore bears the risks and potential rewards
  2. Company’s decisions regarding funding and accounting for the pension plan are more likely to be affected by the net pension obligation

***netting the assets/liabilties reduces the firm’s total assets which results in higher ROA

26
Q

How are stock options accounted for the financial statements?

A

The compensation expense is allocated in the income statement over the service period, which is the time between the grant date and the vesting date.

27
Q

Option pricing models typically incorporate the following 6 inputs….

A
  1. Exercise price
  2. Stock price at the grant date
  3. Expected return
  4. Expected volatility
  5. Expected dividends
  6. Risk-free rate
28
Q

What are stock appreciation rights?

A

An award that gives the employee the right to receive compensation based on the increase in the price of the firm’s stock over a predetermined amount

29
Q

How do GAAP and IFRS differ in how they treat the recognition of the different pension components?

A

Current serivce cost, Interest cost and Expected return are treated the same for both. They are recognized on the Income Statement

**Past Service **cost: **

GAAP -> OCI, amortized over service life

IFRS -> Income Statement

Actuarial Gains/Losses:

GAAP -> Amortized portion on the income statment, unamortized in OCI

IFRS -> All in OCI, not amortized

30
Q

How can an analyst reclassify pension expense for analytical purposes?

A

Background:

Under GAAP, net pension expense (including interest) is shown as an operating expense.

Action:

  1. Add back the pension expense and subtract only service cost in determining operating income
  2. Interest should be added to the firm’s interest expense
  3. Actual return on plan assets should be added to nonoperating income
31
Q

What is the formula to calculate the total periodic pension cost?

A

Total periodic pension cost

= service cost + interest cost – actual return on plan assets + plan ammendments

or

= ending PBO - beginning PBO + benefits paid - actual return on plan assets

32
Q

What is the Corridor Approach?

A
  • Refers to actuarial gains/losses
  • Only allowed in US GAAP
  • Gains & losses outside a “corridor” are amortized
  • The corridor is a 10% threshold, gains >10% and losses > -10% are presumed to be permanent and are amortized.
  • Amortization of an acturial gain reduces pension expense and the opposite is true for losses