Banks with defined benefit pension plans will need to make previously unanticipated changes in first quarter Call Reports, according to banking regulators. The changes — which are outlined in the Financial Accounting Standards Board’s Accounting Standards Update 2017-07 — require an employer to disaggregate the service cost component from the other components of the net benefit cost of defined benefit plans. This will cause a reclassification of these costs in first quarter Call Reports. Banks that are not “public business entities” within the FASB definition will have until 2019 to implement the changes.
The American Bankers Association recommends that bankers to carefully review the first quarter Call Report instructions to assess where these costs will now be reported. For more information, contact ABA’s Josh Stein.