Glossary appears in Actuary Valuation Certificate:

1) Employee benefits are all forms of consideration given by an enterprise in exchange for service rendered by employees.

2) Short-term employee benefits are employee benefits (other than termination benefits) which fall due wholly within twelve months after the end of the period in which the employees render the related service.

3) Post-employment benefits are employee benefits (other than termination benefits) which are payable after the completion of employment.

4) Post-employment benefit plans are formal or informal arrangements under which an enterprise provides postemployment benefits for one or more employees.

5) Defined contribution plans are post-employment benefit plans under which an enterprise pays fixed contributions into a separate entity (a fund) and will have no obligation to pay further contributions if the fund does not hold sufficient assets to pay all employee benefits relating to employee service in the current and prior periods.

6) Defined benefit plans are post-employment benefit plans other than defined contribution plans.

7) Other long-term employee benefits are employee benefits (other than post-employment benefits and termination benefits) which do not fall due wholly within twelve months after the end of the period in which the employees render the related service.

8) Termination benefits are employee benefits payable as a result of either: i. an enterprise’s decision to terminate an employee’s employment before the normal retirement date; or ii. an employee’s decision to accept voluntary redundancy in exchange for those benefits (voluntary retirement).

9) Vested employee benefits are employee benefits that are not conditional on future employment.

10) The present value of a defined benefit obligation is the present value, without deducting any plan assets, of expected future payments required to settle the obligation resulting from employee service in the current and prior periods.

11) Current service cost is the increase in the present value of the defined benefit obligation resulting from employee service in the current period.

12) Interest cost is the increase during a period in the present value of a defined benefit obligation which arises because the benefits are one period closer to settlement.

13) Plan assets comprise: i. assets held by a long-term employee benefit fund; and ii. qualifying insurance policies.

14) Assets held by a long-term employee benefit fund are assets (other than non-transferable financial instruments issued by the reporting enterprise) that: are held by an entity (a fund) that is legally separate from the reporting enterprise and exists solely to pay or fund employee benefits; and
(b) are available to be used only to pay or fund employee benefits, are not available to the reporting enterprise’s own creditors (even in bankruptcy), and cannot be returned to the reporting enterprise, unless either: the remaining assets of the fund are sufficient to meet all the related employee benefit obligations of the plan or the reporting enterprise; or the assets are returned to the reporting enterprise to reimburse it for employee benefits already paid.

15) A qualifying insurance policy is an insurance policy issued by an insurer that is not a related party (as defined in AS 18 Related Party Disclosures) of the reporting enterprise, if the proceeds of the policy: a) can be used only to pay or fund employee benefits under a defined benefit plan; and b) are not available to the reporting enterprise’s own creditors (even in bankruptcy) and cannot be paid to the reporting enterprise, unless either: the proceeds represent surplus assets that are not needed for the policy to meet all the related employee benefit obligations; or the proceeds are returned to the reporting enterprise to reimburse it for employee benefits already paid.

16) Fair value is the amount for which an asset could be exchanged or a liability settled between knowledgeable, willing parties in an arm’s length transaction. 168 AS 15

17) The return on plan assets is interest, dividends and other revenue derived from the plan assets, together with realised and unrealized gains or losses on the plan assets, less any costs of administering the plan and less any tax payable by the plan itself.

18) Actuarial gains and losses comprise : a. experience adjustments (the effects of differences between the previous actuarial assumptions and what has actually occurred); and b. The effects of changes in actuarial assumptions.

19) Past service cost is the change in the present value of the defined benefit obligation for employee service in prior periods, resulting in the current period from the introduction of, or changes to, post-employment benefits or other long-term employee benefits. Past service cost may be either positive (where benefits are introduced or improved) or negative (where existing benefits are reduced).