Quarterly report pursuant to Section 13 or 15(d)

Pension and Other Postretirement Benefit Plans

v2.4.0.6
Pension and Other Postretirement Benefit Plans
 3 Months Ended
Mar. 30, 2012
Pension and Other Postretirement Benefit Plans  
Pension and Other Postretirement Benefit Plans
Pension and Other Postretirement Benefit Plans
Net periodic benefit cost for our pension and other postretirement benefit plans consisted of the following (in millions):
 
Pension Benefits  
 
Other Benefits  
 
Three Months Ended
 
March 30,
2012

April 1,
2011

 
March 30,
2012

April 1,
2011

 
 
As Adjusted

 
 
 
Service cost
$
65

$
62

 
$
8

$
8

Interest cost
98

97

 
11

11

Expected return on plan assets
(144
)
(126
)
 
(2
)
(2
)
Amortization of prior service cost (credit)
(1
)
1

 
(13
)
(15
)
Amortization of net actuarial loss
34

20

 
2

1

Net periodic benefit cost (credit)
52

54

 
6

3

Curtailment charge (credit)
—

—

 
—

—

Special termination benefits1
—

4

 
—

2

Total cost (credit) recognized in statements of income
$
52

$
58

 
$
6

$
5

1 
The special termination benefits primarily relate to the Company's productivity, integration and restructuring initiatives. Refer to Note 11 for additional information related to these initiatives.
Effective January 1, 2012, the Company elected to change our accounting methodology for determining the market-related value of assets for our U.S. qualified defined benefit pension plans. The Company's change in accounting methodology has been applied retrospectively, and we have adjusted all applicable prior period financial information presented herein as required. Refer to Note 1 for further information related to this change and the impact it had on our condensed consolidated financial statements.
We contributed $936 million to our pension plans during the three months ended March 30, 2012, which primarily consisted of $900 million to our U.S. pension plans and $26 million to certain European pension plans whose assets are managed through one of our captive insurance companies. We anticipate making additional contributions of approximately $37 million to our pension plans during the remainder of 2012. The Company contributed $769 million to our pension plans during the three months ended April 1, 2011.