FAQ 915: Cash Balance - Formulas for plans with more than 10 groups

Problem: I have a cash balance plan with more than 10 formula groups. Is there a way to code this in ASC?

Solution: You can enter formulas for up to 50 groups in ASC. Go to Table Maintenance \ Defined Benefit \ DB/CB Formulas and click on Add. Enter a Table Name and Description, choose Formula Type = Contribution and Contribution Type = 8 - Cash balance (Group tiered). Choose option 5 - Location under Group Definitions and enter a formula for your first group on the first formula line; click OK. Repeat this process for each formula group. Formula names can have up to 8 characters, and you should develop a naming convention for the formulas that includes the group number and perhaps the formula type (L, F, N, X, S, T), and any other pertinent information. After setting up all the formulas, go to Plan Specifications and click on Locations \ LOCATION. This option should appear at the end of the Specifications list under Values. If you don't have this option in your plan, go to Utilities > Change Structure > Expanded Locations to add it. If the Expanded Locations option is grayed out, go to Help > About Current Plan and set High Capacity to Yes. While in the LOCATION screen, click on Edit in the PLANSPEC Main Menu > Add to add a location for each formula. Enter a Description and use the dropdown arrow in the Benefit Formula Table field to browse for the table that you created for each location number. Finally, use the employee grid to enter a number in the NAME \ Location field for each employee corresponding to the formula the applies to that employee. All of this information will be saved until you change it, and will be carried forward to the next plan year when the file is updated.