Employee Benefit Plans

The Company provides postretirement medical benefits (the “Plan”) for eligible regular full and part-time domestic employees (including spouses) who retired prior to January 1, 2016, as outlined by the Plan. The Plan was amended effective March 16, 2015, to eliminate postretirement medical benefits for eligible domestic employees retiring on or after January 1, 2016. This amendment resulted in a decrease in the accumulated postretirement benefit obligation of $4,490 and recognition of a curtailment gain of $4,296 during the fiscal year ended July 31, 2015. The curtailment gain was recorded in SG&A on the Consolidated Statements of Earnings.

The accounting guidance on defined benefit pension and other postretirement plans requires full recognition of the funded status of defined benefit and other postretirement plans on the balance sheet as an asset or a liability. The guidance also requires that unrecognized prior service costs/credits, gains/losses, and transition obligations/assets be recorded in AOCI, thus not changing the income statement recognition rules for such plans.

The Plan is unfunded and recorded as a liability in the accompanying Consolidated Balance Sheets as of July 31, 2017 and 2016. The following table provides a reconciliation of the changes in the Plan’s accumulated benefit obligation during the years ended July 31:



	2017			2016
Obligation at beginning of year	$	3,800		$	4,135
Service cost	—			9
Interest cost	89			114
Actuarial gain	—			(38		)
Benefit payments	(499		)	(420		)
Obligation at end of fiscal year	$	3,390		$	3,800

As of July 31, 2017 and 2016, amounts recognized as liabilities in the accompanying Consolidated Balance Sheets consist of:



	2017		2016
Current liability	$	449	$	499
Non-current liability	2,941		3,301
	$	3,390	$	3,800

As of July 31, 2017 and 2016, pre-tax amounts recognized in accumulated other comprehensive loss in the accompanying Consolidated Balance Sheets consist of net actuarial gains of $5,504 and $6,048, respectively.

Net periodic benefit gain for the Plan for fiscal years ended July 31, 2017, 2016, and 2015 includes the following components:



	Years Ended July 31,
	2017			2016			2015
Net periodic postretirement benefit gain included the following components:
Service cost	$	—		$	9		$	210
Interest cost	89			114			222
Amortization of prior service credit	—			(1,035		)	(1,169		)
Amortization of net actuarial gain	(544		)	(646		)	(804		)
Curtailment gain	—			—			(4,296		)
Periodic postretirement benefit gain	$	(455	)	$	(1,558	)	$	(5,837	)

The estimated net actuarial gain that will be amortized from accumulated other comprehensive income into net periodic postretirement benefit cost over the next fiscal year is $520. No prior service credit remains due to the plan amendment to eliminate post-retirement benefits for employees retiring after January 1, 2016.

The following assumptions were used in accounting for the Plan:



	2017		2016		2015
Weighted average discount rate used in determining accumulated postretirement benefit obligation	2.50	%	2.50	%	3.00	%
Weighted average discount rate used in determining net periodic benefit cost	2.50	%	3.00	%	3.41	%
Assumed health care trend rate used to measure accumulated postretirement benefit obligation at July 31	7.25	%	7.50	%	7.00	%
Rate to which cost trend rate is assumed to decline (the ultimate trend rate)	5.50	%	5.50	%	5.50	%
Fiscal year the ultimate trend rate is reached	2024		2018		2018

A one-percentage point change in assumed health care cost trend rates would have the following effects on the Plan:



	One-Percentage Point Increase		One-Percentage Point Decrease
Effect on future service and interest cost	$	4	$	(5	)
Effect on accumulated postretirement benefit obligation at July 31, 2017	18		(19		)

The following benefit payments are expected to be paid during the years ending July 31:




2018	$	449
2019	377
2020	359
2021	339
2022	309
2023 through 2027	1,241

The Company sponsors defined benefit pension plans that are primarily unfunded and provide an income benefit upon termination or retirement for certain of its international employees. As of July 31, 2017 and 2016, the accumulated pension obligation related to these plans was $6,075 and $7,120, respectively. As of July 31, 2017 and 2016, pre-tax amounts recognized in accumulated other comprehensive loss in the accompanying Consolidated Balance Sheets were losses of $641 and $1,161, respectively. The net periodic benefit cost for these plans was $665, $795, and $724 during the years ended July 31, 2017, 2016 and 2015, respectively.

The Company has retirement and profit-sharing plans covering substantially all full-time domestic employees and certain employees of its foreign subsidiaries. Contributions to the plans are determined annually or quarterly, according to the respective plans, based on earnings of the respective companies and employee contributions. Accrued retirement and profit-sharing contributions of $3,327 and $3,380 were included in other current liabilities on the accompanying Consolidated Balance Sheets as of July 31, 2017 and 2016, respectively. The amounts charged to expense for these retirement and profit sharing plans were $13,750, $10,407, and $9,912 during the years ended July 31, 2017, 2016 and 2015, respectively.

The Company also has two deferred compensation plans, the Executive Deferred Compensation Plan and the Director Deferred Compensation Plan. Both plans allow for compensation to be deferred into either the Company's Class A Nonvoting Common Stock or in other investment funds. Neither plan allows funds to be transferred between the Company's Class A Nonvoting Common Stock and the other investment funds. At July 31, 2017 and 2016, $14,121 and $18,758, respectively, of deferred compensation was included in other long-term liabilities in the accompanying Consolidated Balance Sheets.