AT&T Wireless 2012 Annual Report Download - page 81

AT&T Inc. | 79
Pension Benefits Postretirement Benefits
2012 2011 2012 2011
Benefit obligation at beginning of year $56,110 $53,917 $34,953 $36,638
Service cost – benefits earned during the period 1,216 1,186 336 362
Interest cost on projected benefit obligation 2,800 2,958 1,725 2,051
Amendments (905) — (2,768) (1,830)
Actuarial loss 6,707 2,972 4,844 478
Special termination benefits 12 27 5 4
Benefits paid (5,729) (4,950) (2,608) (2,750)
Transfer for sale of Advertising Solutions segment (149) — (207) —
Plan transfers (1,151) — 1,151 —
Benefit obligation at end of year $58,911 $56,110 $37,431 $34,953
The following table presents the change in the value of plan assets for the years ended December 31 and the plans’ funded
status at December 31:
Pension Benefits Postretirement Benefits
2012 2011 2012 2011
Fair value of plan assets at beginning of year $ 45,907 $ 47,621 $ 9,890 $ 12,747
Actual return on plan assets 5,041 2,238 1,266 (224)
Benefits paid1 (5,729) (4,950) (1,842) (2,633)
Contributions 3 1,000 — —
Transfer for sale of Advertising Solutions segment (165) — (19) —
Other 3 (2) — —
Fair value of plan assets at end of year 45,060 45,907 9,295 9,890
Unfunded status at end of year2 $(13,851) $(10,203) $(28,136) $(25,063)
1 At our discretion, certain postretirement benefits may be paid from AT&T cash accounts, which does not reduce VEBA assets. Future benefit payments may be made from
VEBA trusts and thus reduce those asset balances.
2 Funded status is not indicative of our ability to pay ongoing pension benefits or of our obligation to fund retirement trusts. Required pension funding is determined in
accordance with ERISA regulations.
Prior service credits included in our accumulated OCI that
have not yet been recognized in net periodic benefit cost
were $1,035 for pension and $7,688 for postretirement
benefits at December 31, 2012, and $149 for pension and
$5,896 for postretirement benefits at December 31, 2011.
The accumulated benefit obligation for our pension plans
represents the actuarial present value of benefits based on
employee service and compensation as of a certain date and
does not include an assumption about future compensation
levels. The accumulated benefit obligation for our pension
plans was $57,010 at December 31, 2012, and $53,640 at
December 31, 2011.
Amounts recognized on our consolidated balance sheets at
December 31 are listed below:
Pension Benefits Postretirement Benefits
2012 2011 2012 2011
Current portion of
employee benefit
obligation1 $ — $ — $ (2,116) $ (2,288)
Employee benefit
obligation2 (13,851) (10,203) (26,020) (22,775)
Net amount
recognized $(13,851) $(10,203) $(28,136) $(25,063)
1 Included in “Accounts payable and accrued liabilities.”
2 Included in “Postemployment benefit obligation.”
The following table presents this reconciliation and shows the
change in the projected benefit obligation for the years
ended December 31:
For postretirement benefit plans, the benefit obligation is
the “accumulated postretirement benefit obligation,” the
actuarial present value as of a date of all future benefits
attributed under the terms of the postretirement benefit
plan to employee service rendered to the valuation date.