EMPLOYEE BENEFIT PLAN

3 Months Ended

Mar. 31, 2024

Retirement Benefits [Abstract]

EMPLOYEE BENEFIT PLAN

16. EMPLOYEE BENEFIT PLAN

The Company’s subsidiary, TDAM, has an unfunded, non-contributory defined benefit plan covering its permanent employees.

Under the existing regulatory framework, the Company is required to pay eligible employees at least the minimum regulatory benefit upon retirement, which provides a retirement benefit equal to 22.5 days’ pay for every year of credited service, subject to age and service requirements. The regulatory benefit is paid in a lump sum upon retirement. The existing regulatory framework does not require minimum funding of the plan.

Retirement benefit expenses and liabilities are determined in accordance with an actuarial study made for the plan utilizing the net interest approach which disaggregates the defined benefit cost into the following components: service costs (cost of services received); net interest (financing effect of paying for benefits in advance or in arrears); and remeasurements (period-to-period fluctuations in the amounts of defined benefit obligations and plan assets).

Under the net interest approach, service cost and net interest on the defined benefit liability (asset) are both recognized in the statement of operations, while remeasurements of the defined benefit liability (asset) are recognized in other comprehensive income. Remeasurements recognized in other comprehensive income shall not be reclassified to profit or loss in a subsequent period.

The amount of the defined benefit liability reported under other noncurrent liabilities in the consolidated balance sheet is determined as follows:

	March 31, 2024		December 31, 2023
Benefit obligation	$	405,233	$	240,763
Plan assets		–		–
Total	$	405,233	$	240,763

The components of the accumulated benefit cost to be recognized under selling, general and administrative expense in consolidated statement of operations are the service cost (current service cost, past service cost or credit and settlement gains or losses) and net interest expense on the net defined benefit liability:

	March 31, 2024		March 31, 2023
Current service cost	$	4,661	$	56,630
Net interest expense		3,597		5,374
Total	$	8,258	$	59,004

The change in the accumulated benefit cost in the consolidated balance sheet for the three months ended March 31, 2024 is as follows:

	2024
Balance, January 1	$	240,763
Foreign currency translation		(3,181	)
Expense recognized in other comprehensive income		8,258
Remeasurement on actuarial gain (loss) recognized		159,393
Contributions paid		–
Balance, March 31	$	405,233

The cumulative amount of actuarial gains recognized in other comprehensive income for the three months ended March 31, 2024 and 2023 is as follows:

	2024			2023
Balance, January 1	$	124,922		$	37,303
Foreign currency translation		(266	)		–
Actuarial gain (loss)		(159,393	)		46,307
Balance, March 31		(34,737	)		83,610
Tax effect		8,618			(20,903	)
Cumulative actuarial gain (loss), net of tax	$	(26,119	)	$	62,707

The assumptions used to determine retirement benefits for the three months ended March 31, 2024 are as follows:

	March 31, 2024
Discount rate		6.26%
Salary increase rate		2.00%