Reconcile the employer entry and workpaper

The source schedules now reconcile. The final entry should be derived from them, not used to prove them.

Start from independently checked totals

Cedar Trail has:

Control amount	Value
Opening funded-status liability	$3,000,000
Net periodic pension cost	1,400,000
Net current OCI loss	650,000
Employer contribution	1,200,000
Increase in funded-status liability	850,000
Ending funded-status liability	$3,850,000

The employer entry is:

Account	Debit	Credit
Net periodic pension cost	$1,400,000	—
Other comprehensive loss—pension	650,000	—
Cash	—	$1,200,000
Pension liability	—	850,000
Total	$2,050,000	$2,050,000

The liability change also proves:

$3,000,000 opening liability + $850,000 increase
  = $3,850,000 ending liability

Understand what is absent

No benefit-payment line appears in the employer entry because the $1.1 million payment came from the trust and reduced both PBO and plan assets. It remains essential in both source rollforwards.

No actual-return account appears in the employer entry. Actual return changes plan assets; expected return enters periodic cost; their difference participates in OCI/AOCI.

No separate prior-service or net-loss liability appears. The balance sheet recognizes funded status. The unrecognized cost layers sit in AOCI and are reclassified to cost under the supported method.

Use the worksheet as a map

A useful employer workpaper has columns for:

PBO;
plan assets;
periodic benefit cost;
current OCI;
AOCI layers;
contributions and benefits;
funded-status asset or liability; and
general-ledger debit or credit.

Rows are named events rather than journal-entry accounts. One row for service cost can show a PBO increase and an earnings debit. One row for a contribution can show a plan-asset increase, cash credit, and funded-status improvement. The worksheet should make those linked but different effects visible.

Enforce row and column controls

Every row needs:

document or specialist source;
plan and measurement date;
unit and sign convention;
affected ledgers;
statement destination;
preparer and reviewer; and
unresolved fact, if any.

Every column needs an opening balance, movements, ending balance, and external tie-out. The PBO column ties to the actuary. Plan assets tie to trustee and custodian evidence. Cash ties to the bank and general ledger. AOCI ties to equity. Funded status ties to the balance sheet.

Reject plugs explicitly

A plug can make the entry balance while hiding:

a missing contribution;
mismatched benefit payments;
actual return used as expected return;
a plan amendment omitted from PBO;
reclassification counted twice;
an after-tax AOCI balance compared with pretax movements; or
a stale measurement date.

The rule is simple: the entry can contain no number that is not recoverable from a controlled source schedule.

Prepare the handoff

The workpaper package includes:

obligation and asset rollforwards;
periodic-cost schedule and presentation split;
current OCI and AOCI rollforward;
contribution and benefit-payment support;
funded-status bridge;
special-event memo;
proposed entry;
statement and note tie-outs; and
open evidence and review items.

Change one controlled source movement and follow its effects across the eight listed workpaper columns, including the general-ledger column. If a dependent total stays frozen, the formulas or mapping are broken; if all eight reconcile, the entry has passed its arithmetic and traceability control.