Certain employees of Liquidity Services UK Limited ("GoIndustry"), which the Company acquired in July 2012, are covered by the Henry Butcher Pension Fund and Life Assurance Scheme (the "Scheme"), a qualified defined benefit pension plan. The Company guarantees GoIndustry's performance on all present and future obligations to make payments to the Scheme for up to a maximum of 10 million British pounds. The Scheme was closed to new members on January 1, 2002.

The Company recognizes the funded status of its postretirement benefit plans, with a corresponding noncash adjustment to accumulated other comprehensive loss, net of tax, in stockholders' equity. The funded status is measured as the difference between the fair value of the Scheme's assets and the benefit obligation of the Scheme.


	Year Ended September 30,
	2019		2018		2017
	(in thousands)
Interest cost	$	618	$	651	$	582
Expected return on plan assets	(965)		(986)		(826)
Total net periodic benefit	$	(347)	$	(335)	$	(244)

The following table provides a reconciliation of benefit obligations, plan assets, and funded status related to the Company's qualified defined benefit pension plan for the years ended September 30, 2019 and 2018:


	Year Ended September 30,
	2019		2018
	(in thousands)
Change in benefit obligation
Beginning balance	$	22,226	$	25,085
Interest cost	618		651
Benefits paid	(879)		(2,297)
Actuarial loss/(gain)	2,508		(590)
Foreign currency exchange rate changes	(1,233)		(623)
Ending balance	$	23,240	$	22,226


	Year Ended September 30,
	2019		2018
	(in thousands)
Change in plan assets
Beginning balance at fair value	$	25,132	$	26,943
Actual return on plan assets	3,003		1,175
Benefits paid	(879)		(2,297)
Employer's contributions	—		—
Foreign currency exchange rate changes	(1,477)		(689)
Ending balance at fair value	$	25,779	$	25,132
Overfunded status of the Scheme	$	2,539	$	2,906

The accrued pension asset of $2.5 million is recorded in Other long-term assets in the Consolidated Balance Sheet. Because the Scheme is closed to new participants, the accumulated benefit obligation is equal to the projected benefit obligation, which was $23.2 million and $22.2 million at September 30, 2019 and 2018, respectively.

The amounts recognized in other comprehensive (income) loss related to the Company's qualified defined benefit pension plan, net of taxes, and the related foreign currency translation adjustments, for the years ended September 30, 2019 and 2018, is shown in the following table:


	Year Ended September 30,
	2019		2018
	(in thousands)
Accumulated other comprehensive (income) loss at beginning of year	$	(892)	$	(123)
Net actuarial gain (loss)	540		(773)
Foreign currency translation adjustments	49		4
Accumulated other comprehensive (income) loss at end of year	$	(303)	$	(892)

The plan complies with the funding provisions of the UK Pensions Act 2004 and the Occupational Pension Schemes Regulations Act 2005. The Company does not plan to make contributions to the plan in the near future.

The actuarial assumptions used to determine the benefit obligations at September 30, 2019 and 2018, and to determine the net periodic (benefit) cost for the year were as follows:


	September 30, 2019		September 30, 2018
Discount rate to determine net periodic (benefit) cost	2.90	%	2.70	%
Expected return on plan assets	4.00	%	3.80	%
Discount rate to determine benefit obligations	1.80	%	2.90	%
Rate of increases to deferred CPI linked benefits	2.10	%	2.20	%
Rate of increases to deferred RPI linked benefits	3.20	%	3.30	%

Mortality—105% for males and females of S2PxA mortality tables, projected in line with the 2018 Continuous Mortality Investigation projection model and a 1.3% per annum long-term rate of improvement.

The investment policy and strategy of the plan assets, as established by the Trustees (the "Trustees") of the plan, strive to maximize the likelihood of achieving primary objectives of the investment policy established for the plan, which are:

•Funding—to ensure that the Plan is fully funded using assumptions that contain a modest margin for prudence. Where an actuarial valuation reveals a deficit, a recovery plan will be put in place which will take into account the financial covenant of the employer;

•Security—to ensure that the solvency position of the Scheme is expected to improve. The Trustees will take into account the strength of employer's covenant when determining the expected improvement in the solvency position of the Plan.

The assets are allocated among equity securities, corporate bonds, and diversified funds. The assets are not rebalanced, but the allocation is reviewed on a periodic basis to ensure that the investments are appropriate to the Scheme's circumstances. The Trustees review the investment policy on an ongoing basis, to determine whether a change in the policy or asset allocation targets is necessary. The Company has elected to use a bid value of Scheme assets to calculate the expected return on assets in the net periodic benefit cost. The assets consisted of the following as of September 30, 2019 and 2018:


	September 30, 2019		September 30, 2018
Equity securities	19.7	%	45.7	%
Corporate bonds	56.4	%	53.1	%
Diversified fund	23.5	%	—	%
Cash	0.4	%	1.2	%
Total	100.0	%	100.0	%

The expected long-term rate of return for the plan's total assets is based on the expected returns of each of the above categories, weighted based on the current target allocation for each class. The Trustees evaluate whether adjustments are needed based on historical returns to more accurately reflect expectations of future returns.

The Company is required to present certain fair value disclosures related to its postretirement benefit plan assets, even though those assets are not included on the Company's Consolidated Balance Sheets. The following table presents the fair value of the assets of the Company's qualified defined benefit pension plan by asset category and their level within the fair value hierarchy, which has three levels based on reliability of the inputs used to determine fair value. Level 1 refers to fair values determined based on quoted prices in active markets for identical assets, Level 2 refers to fair values estimated using significant other observable inputs, and Level 3 includes fair values estimated using significant unobservable inputs.


Balance as of September 30, 2018	Level 1		Level 2		Level 3		Total
	(in thousands)
Equity securities	$	—	$	11,489	$	—	$	11,489
Fixed-income securities	—		13,347		—		13,347
Cash equivalents	296		—		—		296
Total	$	296	$	24,836	$	—	$	25,132


Balance as of September 30, 2019	Level 1		Level 2		Level 3		Total
	(in thousands)
Equity securities	$	—	$	5,077	$	—	$	5,077
Corporate bonds	—		14,546		—		14,546
Diversified fund	—		6,062		—		6,062
Cash	94		—		—		94
Total	$	94	$	25,685	$	—	$	25,779

The Company relies on pricing inputs from investment fund managers to value investments. The fund manager prices the underlying securities using independent external pricing sources.