9.	Deferred Compensation and Other Benefits

The Company maintains a non-qualified defined benefit Executive Supplemental Benefit Plan (ESBP) that provides certain former key executives with deferred compensation benefits, based on years of service and base compensation, payable during retirement. The plan was amended as of November 30, 1994, to freeze benefits for the participants in the plan at that time.

Net periodic pension cost for the quarters and three quarters ended September 29, 2017 and September 30, 2016 for the ESBP was as follows:

	For the Quarter Ended				For the Three Quarters Ended
(amounts in thousands)	September 29, 2017		September 30, 2016		September 29, 2017		September 30, 2016
Interest cost	$	55	$	60	$	165	$	182
Amortization of actuarial loss		40		43		118		129
Net periodic pension cost	$	95	$	103	$	283	$	311

The ESBP is deemed to be unfunded as the Company has not specifically identified assets to be used to discharge the deferred compensation benefit liabilities. The Company has purchased insurance on the lives of certain plan participants in amounts deemed to be sufficient to reimburse the Company for the costs associated with the plan for those participants (see note 2 for “Life Insurance Policies”). The Company does not anticipate making contributions to the plan other than for benefit payments as required in 2017 and future years. In the 2017 third quarter and year-to-date periods, the Company made benefit payments totaling approximately $0.1 million and $0.5 million, respectively, and expects to make payments in 2017 totaling approximately $0.7 million.

The Company also retained a contributory defined benefit plan for its previous employees located in the Netherlands (NDBP) when the Company disposed of its subsidiary, CTG Nederland, B.V. Benefits paid are a function of a percentage of career average pay. This plan was curtailed for additional contributions in January 2003. Net periodic pension cost was approximately $15,000 and $44,000 in the 2017 third quarter and year-to-date periods, respectively, and $18,000 and $55,000 in the corresponding 2016 periods, respectively.

The Company does not anticipate making contributions to the NDBP in 2017. The assets for the NDBP are held by Aegon, a financial services firm located in the Netherlands. The Company maintains a contract with Aegon to insure future benefit payments of the NDBP; however, due to certain terms of the agreement and potential obligations to the Company, the NDBP has not been settled. The benefit payments to be made in 2017 are expected to be paid by Aegon from plan assets. The assets for the plan are included in a general portfolio of government bonds, a portion of which is allocated to the NDBP based upon the estimated pension liability associated with the plan. The fair market value of the plan’s assets equals the contractual value of the NDBP at any point in time. The fair value of the assets is determined using a Level 3 methodology (see note 2 for “Fair Value”). In 2017, the plan investments have a targeted minimum return to the Company of 4.0%, which is consistent with historical returns and the 4.0% return guaranteed to the participants of the plan. The Company, in conjunction with Aegon, intends to maintain the current investment strategy of investing plan assets solely in government bonds throughout 2017.

The change in the fair value of plan assets for the NDBP for the three quarters ended September 29, 2017 and September 30, 2016 was as follows:

	For the Three Quarters Ended
(amounts in thousands)	September 29, 2017			September 30, 2016
Fair value of plan assets at beginning of period	$	6,920		$	7,106
Return on plan assets		217			216
Contributions		—			—
Benefits paid		(119	)		(113	)
Effect of exchange rate changes		852			207
Fair value of plan assets at end of quarter	$	7,870		$	7,416

During 2017, the Company determined that its fully funded pension plan related to Belgium employees, which the Company had historically accounted for as a defined contribution plan, should have been reported as a defined benefit plan. The impact of the error on the historical financial statements was immaterial. The Company recorded an increase to noncurrent assets and an offsetting adjustment primarily to direct costs of approximately $0.3 million, and an increase in income tax expense and deferred tax liabilities of approximately $0.1 million to correct the accounting during the 2017 third quarter.

Net periodic pension cost for the quarters and three quarters ended September 29, 2017 for the Belgium pension plan was as follows:

	For the Quarter Ended			For the Three Quarters Ended
(amounts in thousands)	September 29, 2017			September 29, 2017
Service cost	$	70			$	210
Interest cost	$	39			$	117
Expected return on assets	$	(79	)		$	(238	)
Net periodic pension cost	$	30			$	89

The change in the fair value of plan assets for the three quarters ended September 29, 2017 was as follows:

	For the Three Quarters Ended
(amounts in thousands)	September 29, 2017
Fair value of plan assets at beginning of period	$	8,520
Return on plan assets		225
Contributions		343
Benefits paid		(10	)
Effect of exchange rate changes		1,075
Fair value of plan assets at end of quarter	$	10,153

The Company maintains the Key Employee Non-Qualified Deferred Compensation Plan for certain key executives. Company contributions to this plan, if any, are based on annually defined financial performance objectives. Cash contributions made to this plan in the 2017 first quarter for amounts earned in 2016 totaled $0.1 million, while contributions to the plan in the 2016 first quarter for amounts earned in 2015 totaled $0.2 million. The investments in the plan are included in the total assets of the Company, and are discussed in note 5, “Investments.” Participants in the plan have the ability to purchase stock units from the Company at current market prices using their available investment balances within the plan. In exchange for the cash received, the Company releases shares out of treasury stock equivalent to the number of share units purchased by the participants. These shares of common stock are not entitled to any voting rights, but will receive dividends in the event any are paid. The shares are being held by the Company, and will be released to the participants as prescribed by their payment elections under the plan. There were no stock units purchased in 2017, while 5,000 share units were purchased in the 2016 first quarter and none were purchased in the 2016 second or third quarter.

The Company maintains the Non-Employee Director Deferred Compensation Plan for its non-employee directors. Contributions in the 2017 third quarter and year-to-date periods were $0.1 million and $0.3 million, respectively. At the time the contributions were made, the non-employee directors elected to purchase stock units from the Company at current market prices using their available investment balance within the plan. Consistent with the Key Employee Non-Qualified Deferred Compensation Plan, in return for funds received, the Company released shares out of treasury stock equivalent to the number of share units purchased by the participants. These shares of common stock are not entitled to any voting rights, but will receive dividends in the event any are paid. The shares are being held by the Company, and will be released to the participants as prescribed by their payment elections under the plan.