Employee benefit obligations

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2023

The Company's liability in respect of the Swiss Plan (see Note 2(u)) is the projected benefit obligation calculated using the projected unit credit method. The projected benefit obligation as of December 31, 2023 represents the actuarial present value of the estimated future payments required to settle the obligation that is attributable to employee service rendered before that date. Swiss Plan assets are recorded at fair value. Pension expense is presented in the payroll expenses in the various functions in which the employees are engaged. Actuarial gains and losses arising from differences between the actual and the expected return on the Swiss Plan assets are recognized in accumulated other comprehensive income (loss) and amortized over the requisite service period. The Swiss Plan is part of a collective pension foundation of pooled investments managed by a top tier insurance company. The Company and the employees pay retirement contributions, which are defined as a percentage of the employees’ covered salaries.The basis for the determination of the interest on employee’s savings account is the return on plan assets, considering legal minimum requirements. The targeted allocation for these funds is as follows:


Asset Allocation by Category as of December 31, 2023:						Asset allocation (%)
Asset Category:
Debt Securities						33%
Real Estate						25%
Equity Securities						34%
Others						8%
Total						100%

The following table sets forth the Swiss Plan’s funded status and amounts recognized in the consolidated financial statements for the year ended December 31, 2023 and 2022:


	December 31,
	2023		2022
Change in Benefit Obligation
Projected benefit obligation at beginning of year	$	29,435	$	29,975
Interest cost	850		62
Company service cost	2,992		2,725
Employee contributions	2,517		1,631
Prior service cost	(768)		484
Benefits paid	6,726		423
Actuarial loss	9,305		(5,865)
Projected benefit obligation at end of year	$	51,057	$	29,435
Change in Plan Assets
Fair value of plan assets at beginning of year	$	25,531	$	25,967
Actual return on plan assets	4,699		(4,937)
Employer contributions	3,776		2,446
Employee contributions	2,518		1,631
Benefits paid	6,726		424
Fair value of plan assets at end of year	$	43,250	$	25,531
Funded Status at End of year
Excess of obligation over assets	$	7,807	$	3,904
Change in Accrued Benefit Liability
Accrued benefit liability at beginning of year	$	(3,904)	$	(4,008)
Company contributions made during year	3,776		2,446
Net periodic benefit cost for year	(3,058)		(2,078)
Net decrease (increase) in accumulated other comprehensive loss	(4,621)		(264)
Accrued benefit liability at end of year	$	(7,807)	$	(3,904)


	December 31,
	2023		2022
Non-current plan assets	$	43,250	$	25,531
Non-current liability	51,057		29,435
Accrued benefit liability at end of year	$	(7,807)	$	(3,904)
Projected Benefit Payments
Projected year 1	$	1,138	$	539
Projected year 2	1,102		744
Projected year 3	1,546		983
Projected year 4	1,577		1,065
Projected year 5	958		578
Projected years 6-10	20,127		16,940

The fair value of the plan assets is the estimated cash surrender value of the insurance contract at December 31, 2023. The level of inputs used to measure fair value was Level 2.


	Year ended December 31,
	2023		2022
Net Periodic Benefit Cost
Service cost	$	2,992	$	2,725
Interest cost (income)	850		62
Expected return on plan assets	(1,210)		(701)
Amortization of actuarial (gain) loss	94		117
Amortization of prior service costs	(54)		(99)
Total net periodic benefit cost	$	2,672	$	2,104

Weighted average assumptions:
Discount rate as of December 31	1.40%		2.30%
Expected long-term rate of return on assets	3.00%		3.50%
Rate of compensation increase	1.50%		1.50%
Mortality and disability assumptions (*)	BVG 2020 GT		BVG 2020 GT

(*) Mortality data used for actuarial calculation.