Equifax 2001 Annual Report Download - page 50

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9.
Employee Benefits
In 1998, the Company adopted Statement of
Financial Accounting Standards No. 132,
“Employers’ Disclosures about Pensions and
Other Postretirement Benefits.” This statement
revises employers’ disclosures about pension
and other postretirement benefit plans. It does
not change the measurement or recognition of
these plans.
U.S. Retirement Plan The Company has a non-
contributory qualified retirement plan covering
most U.S. salaried employees. Benefits are pri-
marily a function of salary and years of service.
A reconciliation of the benefit obligation, plan
assets, and funded status of the plan is as fol-
lows (in millions):
Change in benefit obligation 2001 2000
Benefit obligation at
beginning of year $372.8 $387.0
Service cost 4.8 4.5
Interest cost 28.4 29.0
Actuarial loss (gain) 44.7 (17.2)
Curtailments (1.5) (1.3)
Spin-off of Certegy (27.3) –
Benefits paid (30.1) (29.2)
Benefit obligation at end of year $391.8 $372.8
Change in plan assets 2001 2000
Fair value of plan assets at
beginning of year $513.1 $500.6
Actual return on plan assets (34.9) 41.7
Employer contribution 10.0 –
Spin-off of Certegy (45.0) –
Benefits paid (30.1) (29.2)
Fair value of plan assets at end of year $413.1 $513.1
Funded status $ 21.3 $140.3
Unrecognized actuarial loss (gain) 64.2 (54.9)
Unrecognized prior service cost –0.2
Prepaid pension cost $ 85.5 $ 85.6
Assumptions used in accounting for the plan are as follows:
2001 2000
Discount rate 7.25% 8.00%
Expected return on plan assets 9.50% 9.50%
Rate of compensation increase 4.25% 4.25%
Net pension income for the plan includes the
following (income) expense components:
(in millions) 2001 2000 1999
Service cost $ 4.8 $ 4.5 $ 5.1
Interest cost 28.3 29.0 27.6
Expected return on
plan assets (44.3) (43.3) (40.1)
Amortization of prior
service cost 0.2 0.3 0.4
Recognized actuarial loss ––0.4
Curtailment gain –(1.3) (3.8)
Net pension income $(11.0) $(10.8) $(10.4)
The net pension income shown above includes
income amounts allocated to discontinued
operations of $2.1 million in 2001, $3.3 million
in 2000 and $3.4 million in 1999. The 2000 cur-
tailment gain of $1.3 million related to the sale
of the U.S. risk management business (Note 4),
and was included as a component of the loss
on sale of businesses recorded in other income.
The 1999 curtailment gain of $3.8 million
resulted from workforce reductions related to
outsourcing certain administrative and data
processing functions and the sale of three risk
management offices.
At December 31, 2001, the plan’s assets
included 1.76 million shares of the Company’s
common stock with a market value of approxi-
mately $42.6 million.
Foreign Retirement Plans The Company main-
tains a defined benefit plan for most salaried
employees in Canada. The aggregate fair mar-
ket value of the Canadian plan assets approxi-
mates the plan’s projected benefit obligation,
which totaled $23.6 million and $24.9 million
48