The soon-to-be-effective Accounting Standards Update (ASU) 2017-07 makes changes to the way pension plans are accounted for, designed to improve the transparency of pension plan operational costs. Under the old rules, all components of pension-related expenses were aggregated together as operating cost. These expenses consist of service cost, interest cost, expected return on assets, amortization of actuarial gains/losses, amortization of prior service costs, and recognition of curtailments and settlements. Combining everything under operational costs had the potential to increase volatility o ..read more