NOTES TO CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS TOSHIBA CORPORATION 47 efit prescribed by JWPIL and a corporate portion based on a contributory defined benefit arrangement established at the discretion of Toshiba Corporation.  Certain subsidiaries in Japan have tax-qualified non-contributory pension plans which cover all or a part of the indemnities payable to qualified employees at the time of termination. The funding policy for the plans is to con- tribute amounts required to maintain sufficient plan assets to provide for accrued benefits, subject to the limitation on deductibility imposed by Japanese income tax laws. Thousands of Millions of yen U.S. dollars Year ended March 31 2003 2002 2003 Service cost—benefits earned during the year ¥ 52,287 ¥ 62,687 $435,725 Interest cost on projected benefit obligation 59,053 61,439 492,108 Expected return on plan assets (35,546) (37,864) (296,217) Amortization of unrecognized net obligation at transition 12,025 12,025 100,209 Amortization of prior service cost (5,972) (4,202) (49,767) Recognized actuarial loss 29,184 18,693 243,200 Net periodic pension and severance cost ¥111,031 ¥112,778 $925,258 Thousands of Millions of yen U.S. dollars March 31 2003 2002 2003 Change in benefit obligation: Benefit obligation at beginning of year ¥1,816,656 ¥1,823,810 $15,138,800 Service cost 52,287 62,687 435,725 Interest cost 59,053 61,439 492,108 Plan participants’ contributions 5,308 8,745 44,233 Plan amendments 25,046 (39,154) 208,717 Actuarial loss 95,969 67,633 799,742 Benefits paid (102,338) (169,461) (852,817) Divestitures (14,273) — (118,942) Foreign currency exchange impact (1,411) 957 (11,758) Benefit obligation at end of year ¥1,936,297 ¥1,816,656 $16,135,808 Change in plan assets: Fair value of plan assets at beginning of year ¥ 988,112 ¥1,044,142 $ 8,234,267 Actual return on plan assets (126,700 ) (55,441) (1,055,834) Employer contribution 41,627 40,371 346,892 Plan participants’ contributions 5,308 8,745 44,233 Benefits paid (53,972) (50,648) (449,767) Divestitures (8,191) — (68,258 ) Foreign currency exchange impact (1,417) 943 (11,808) Fair value of plan assets at end of year ¥ 844,767 ¥ 988,112 $ 7,039,725 Funded status ¥1,091,530 ¥ 828,544 $ 9,096,083 Unrecognized actuarial loss (861,688) (638,072) (7,180,733) Unrecognized net obligation at transition (36,911) (49,163) (307,592) Unrecognized prior service cost 46,950 78,740 391,250 Net amount recognized ¥ 239,881 ¥ 220,049 $ 1,999,008 Amounts recognized in the consolidated  balance sheets consist of: Accrued pension and severance costs ¥ 950,997 ¥ 709,233 $ 7,924,975 Accumulated other comprehensive loss, pre-tax (711,116) (489,184) (5,925,967) Net amounts recognized ¥ 239,881 ¥ 220,049 $ 1,999,008 Accumulated benefit obligation at end of year ¥1,796,972 ¥1,696,572 $14,974,767 weighted-average discount rate of 3.0 percent and 3.5 percent, an expected long-term rate of return on plan assets of 4.0 percent and 4.0 percent, and an assumed rate of increase in salary levels of 1.9 percent and 2.1 per- cent were used in measuring the pension obligations at March 31, 2003 and 2002, respectively.  The changes in the benefit obligations and plan assets and reconciliations of net amount recognized to funded sta- tus and accrued pension and severance costs for the years ended March 31, 2003 and 2002 were as follows: For the year ended March 31, 2002, the Company has amended the regulations of the social security benefits por- tion under the contributory trusteed employee pension funds in accordance with the revisions of the JWPIL. This amendment resulted in the reduction of the projected benefit obligations of the funds.  Net periodic pension and severance cost for the years ended March 31, 2003 and 2002 included the following com- ponents: