RETIREMENT BENEFITS AND POSTEMPLOYMENT BENEFITS |
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RETIREMENT BENEFITS AND POSTEMPLOYMENT BENEFITS [Abstract] | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
RETIREMENT BENEFITS AND POSTEMPLOYMENT BENEFITS | NOTE 13. RETIREMENT BENEFITS AND POSTEMPLOYMENT BENEFITS Defined Benefit Pension Plans We have defined benefit pension plans covering many employees in the United States, Canada, France, and the United Kingdom. Benefits for salaried employees are based on length of service and final average compensation. Benefits for hourly employees include various monthly amounts for each year of credited service. Our funding policy is consistent with the requirements of applicable laws. We made no voluntary contributions to our principal U.S. plans in fiscal 2017, 2016, and 2015. We do not expect to be required to make any contributions in fiscal 2018. Our principal domestic retirement plan covering salaried employees has a provision that any excess pension assets would be allocated to active participants if the plan is terminated within five years of a change in control. All salaried employees hired on or after June 1, 2013 are eligible for a retirement program that does not include a defined benefit pension plan. In May 2017, we announced changes to the United States pension plans. The Company will freeze the pay and service amounts used to calculate pension benefits for active employees who participate in the United States pension plans as of December 31, 2027. Beginning January 1, 2028, active employees in the United States will not accrue additional benefits for future service and eligible compensation received under these plans. These changes resulted in a $130.9 million decline in the projected benefit obligation as of May 28, 2017, due to the decrease in expected future compensation. Other Postretirement Benefit Plans We also sponsor plans that provide health care benefits to many of our retirees in the United States, Canada, and Brazil. The United States salaried health care benefit plan is contributory, with retiree contributions based on years of service. We make decisions to fund related trusts for certain employees and retirees on an annual basis. We made voluntary contributions to these plans of $20.0 million in in fiscal 2017 and $24.0 million in fiscal 2016. Health Care Cost Trend Rates Assumed health care cost trends are as follows:
We review our health care cost trend rates annually. Our review is based on data we collect about our health care claims experience and information provided by our actuaries. This information includes recent plan experience, plan design, overall industry experience and projections, and assumptions used by other similar organizations. Our initial health care cost trend rate is adjusted as necessary to remain consistent with this review, recent experiences, and short-term expectations. Our initial health care cost trend rate assumption is 7.3 percent for retirees age 65 and over and 7.0 percent for retirees under age 65 at the end of fiscal 2017. Rates are graded down annually until the ultimate trend rate of 5.0 percent is reached in 2024 for all retirees. The trend rates are applicable for calculations only if the retirees’ benefits increase as a result of health care inflation. The ultimate trend rate is adjusted annually, as necessary, to approximate the current economic view on the rate of long-term inflation plus an appropriate health care cost premium. Assumed trend rates for health care costs have an important effect on the amounts reported for the other postretirement benefit plans. A one percentage point change in the health care cost trend rate would have the following effects:
The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, as amended by the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010 (collectively, the Act) was signed into law in March 2010. The Act codifies health care reforms with staggered effective dates from 2010 to 2018. Estimates of the future impacts of several of the Act’s provisions are incorporated into our postretirement benefit liability. Postemployment Benefit Plans Under certain circumstances, we also provide accruable benefits, primarily severance, to former or inactive employees in the United States, Canada, and Mexico. We recognize an obligation for any of these benefits that vest or accumulate with service. Postemployment benefits that do not vest or accumulate with service (such as severance based solely on annual pay rather than years of service) are charged to expense when incurred. Our postemployment benefit plans are unfunded. In the first quarter of fiscal 2017, we adopted new accounting requirements which permit reporting entities with a fiscal year-end that does not coincide with a month-end to apply a practical expedient to measure defined benefit plan assets and obligations using the month-end that is closest to the entity’s fiscal year-end and apply such practical expedient consistently to all plans. We measured the plan assets and obligations for our defined benefit pension, other postretirement benefit, and postemployment benefit plans as of May 31, 2017. Summarized financial information about defined benefit pension, other postretirement benefit, and postemployment benefit plans is presented below:
The accumulated benefit obligation for all defined benefit pension plans was $6,104.5 million as of May 28, 2017, and $5,950.7 million as of May 29, 2016. Amounts recognized in AOCI as of May 28, 2017 and May 29, 2016, are as follows:
Plans with accumulated benefit obligations in excess of plan assets are as follows:
Components of net periodic benefit expense are as follows:
We expect to recognize the following amounts in net periodic benefit expense in fiscal 2018:
Assumptions Weighted-average assumptions used to determine fiscal year-end benefit obligations are as follows:
Weighted-average assumptions used to determine fiscal year net periodic benefit expense are as follows:
Discount Rates Beginning in fiscal 2017, we changed the method used to estimate the service and interest cost components of the net periodic benefit expense for our United States and most of our international defined benefit pension, other postretirement benefit, and postemployment benefit plans. We adopted a full yield curve approach to estimate service cost and interest cost by applying the specific spot rates along the yield curve used to determine the benefit obligation to the relevant projected cash flows. This method provides a more precise measurement of service and interest costs by correlating the timing of the plans’ liability cash flows to the corresponding rate on the yield curve. Previously, we estimated service cost and interest cost using a single weighted-average discount rate derived from the yield curve used to measure the benefit obligation at the beginning of the period. This change does not affect the measurement of our benefit obligations related to these plans. We have accounted for this change prospectively as a change in accounting estimate beginning in the first quarter of fiscal 2017. The change in methodology resulted in a decrease in service and interest cost of approximately $68 million for fiscal 2017 compared to our previous methodology. The fiscal 2017 reduction in our net periodic benefit expense as a result of this change in methodology was partially offset by a reduction in our weighted-average expected rate of return on plan assets for our principal defined benefit pension and other postretirement plans in the United States to 8.25 percent as a result of asset changes that decreased investment risk in the portfolio. Beginning in fiscal 2017, our discount rate assumptions are determined annually as of May 31 for our defined benefit pension, other postretirement benefit, and postemployment benefit plan obligations. We also use discount rates as of May 31 to determine defined benefit pension, other postretirement benefit, and postemployment benefit plan income and expense for the following fiscal year. We work with our outside actuaries to determine the timing and amount of expected future cash outflows to plan participants and, using the Aa Above Median corporate bond yield, to develop a forward interest rate curve, including a margin to that index based on our credit risk. This forward interest rate curve is applied to our expected future cash outflows to determine our discount rate assumptions. Fair Value of Plan Assets The fair values of our pension and postretirement benefit plans’ assets and their respective levels in the fair value hierarchy at May 28, 2017, and May 29, 2016, by asset category were as follows:
(a) Primarily publicly traded common stock for purposes of total return and to maintain equity exposure consistent with policy allocations. Investments include: United States and international equity securities, mutual funds, and equity futures valued at closing prices from national exchanges, and commingled funds valued at unit values provided by the investment managers, which are based on the fair value of the underlying investments. (b) Primarily government and corporate debt securities and futures for purposes of total return, managing fixed income exposure to policy allocations, and managing duration targets. Investments include: fixed income securities and bond futures generally valued at closing prices from national exchanges, fixed income pricing models, and independent financial analysts; and fixed income commingled funds valued at unit values provided by the investment managers, which are based on the fair value of the underlying investments. (c) Publicly traded common stock and limited partnerships in the energy and real estate sectors for purposes of total return. Investments include: energy and real estate securities generally valued at closing prices from national exchanges, and commingled funds valued at unit values provided by the investment managers, which are based on the fair value of the underlying investments. (d) Global balanced fund of equity, fixed income, and real estate securities for purposes of meeting Canadian pension plan asset allocation policies, and insurance and annuity contracts to provide a stable stream of income for retirees and to fund postretirement medical benefits. Fair values are derived from unit values provided by the investment managers, which are generally based on the fair value of the underlying investments and contract fair values from the providers. (e) Primarily private investments and common collective trusts that are measured at fair value using the net asset value per share (or its equivalent) practical expedient and have not been classified in the fair value hierarchy. There were no material changes in our level 3 investments in fiscal 2017 and fiscal 2016. Expected Rate of Return on Plan Assets Our expected rate of return on plan assets is determined by our asset allocation, our historical long-term investment performance, our estimate of future long-term returns by asset class (using input from our actuaries, investment services, and investment managers), and long-term inflation assumptions. We review this assumption annually for each plan; however, our annual investment performance for one particular year does not, by itself, significantly influence our evaluation. Weighted-average asset allocations for the past two fiscal years for our defined benefit pension and other postretirement benefit plans are as follows:
The investment objective for our defined benefit pension and other postretirement benefit plans is to secure the benefit obligations to participants at a reasonable cost to us. Our goal is to optimize the long-term return on plan assets at a moderate level of risk. The defined benefit pension plan and other postretirement benefit plan portfolios are broadly diversified across asset classes. Within asset classes, the portfolios are further diversified across investment styles and investment organizations. For the defined benefit pension plans, the long-term investment policy allocation is: 20 percent to equities in the United States; 15 percent to international equities; 10 percent to private equities; 40 percent to fixed income; and 15 percent to real assets (real estate, energy, and timber). For other postretirement benefit plans, the long-term investment policy allocations are: 30 percent to equities in the United States; 15 percent to international equities; 10 percent to private equities; 40 percent to fixed income; and 5 percent to real assets (real estate, energy, and timber). The actual allocations to these asset classes may vary tactically around the long-term policy allocations based on relative market valuations. Contributions and Future Benefit Payments We do not expect to be required to make contributions to our defined benefit pension, other postretirement benefit, and postemployment benefit plans in fiscal 2018. Actual fiscal 2018 contributions could exceed our current projections, as influenced by our decision to undertake discretionary funding of our benefit trusts and future changes in regulatory requirements. Estimated benefit payments, which reflect expected future service, as appropriate, are expected to be paid from fiscal 2018 to 2027 as follows:
Defined Contribution Plans The General Mills Savings Plan is a defined contribution plan that covers domestic salaried, hourly, nonunion, and certain union employees. This plan is a 401(k) savings plan that includes a number of investment funds, including a Company stock fund and an Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP). We sponsor another money purchase plan for certain domestic hourly employees with net assets of $23.0 million as of May 28, 2017, and $21.0 million as of May 29, 2016. We also sponsor defined contribution plans in many of our foreign locations. Our total recognized expense related to defined contribution plans was $54.1 million in fiscal 2017, $61.2 million in fiscal 2016, and $44.0 million in fiscal 2015. We match a percentage of employee contributions to the General Mills Savings Plan. The Company match is directed to investment options of the participant’s choosing. The number of shares of our common stock allocated to participants in the ESOP was 6.3 million as of May 28, 2017, and 6.9 million as of May 29, 2016. The ESOP’s only assets are our common stock and temporary cash balances. The Company stock fund and the ESOP collectively held $598.7 million and $711.5 million of Company common stock as of May 28, 2017 and May 29, 2016, respectively.
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