the containerboard group ( a division of tenneco packaging inc. ) notes to combined financial statements ( continued ) april 11 , 1999 5 . pension and other benefit plans ( continued ) the funded status of the group 2019s allocation of defined benefit plans , excluding the retirement plan , reconciles with amounts recognized in the 1998 statements of assets and liabilities and interdivision account as follows ( in thousands ) : actuarial present value at september 30 , 1998 2014 .

Table:
vested benefit obligation | $ -98512 ( 98512 )
accumulated benefit obligation | -108716 ( 108716 )
projected benefit obligation | $ -108716 ( 108716 )
plan assets at fair value at september 30 1998 | 146579
unrecognized transition liability | -1092 ( 1092 )
unrecognized net gain | -14623 ( 14623 )
unrecognized prior service cost | 13455
prepaid pension cost at december 31 1998 | $ 35603
the weighted average discount rate used in determining the actuarial present value of the benefit obligations was 7.00% ( 7.00 % ) for the year ended december 31 , 1998 .
the weighted average expected long-term rate of return on plan assets was 10% ( 10 % ) for 1998 .
middle management employees participate in a variety of incentive compensation plans .
these plans provide for incentive payments based on the achievement of certain targeted operating results and other specific business goals .
the targeted operating results are determined each year by senior management of packaging .
the amounts charged to expense for these plans were $ 1599000 for the period ended april 11 , 1999 .
in june , 1992 , tenneco initiated an employee stock purchase plan ( 2018 2018espp 2019 2019 ) .
the plan allows u.s .
and canadian employees of the group to purchase tenneco inc .
common stock through payroll deductions at a 15% ( 15 % ) discount .
each year , an employee in the plan may purchase shares with a discounted value not to exceed $ 21250 .
the weighted average fair value of the employee purchase right , which was estimated using the black-scholes option pricing model and the assumptions described below except that the average life of each purchase right was assumed to be 90 days , was $ 6.31 for the period ended december 31 , 1998 .
the espp was terminated as of september 30 , 1996 .
tenneco adopted a new employee stock purchase plan effective april 1 , 1997 .
under the respective espps , tenneco sold 36883 shares to group employees for the period ended april 11 , 1999 .
in december , 1996 , tenneco adopted the 1996 stock ownership plan , which permits the granting of a variety of awards , including common stock , restricted stock , performance units , stock appreciation rights , and stock options to officers and employees of tenneco .
tenneco can issue up to 17000000 shares of common stock under this plan , which will terminate december 31 , 2001 .
the april 11 , 1999 , fair market value of the options granted was calculated using tenneco 2019s stock price at the grant date and multiplying the amount by the historical percentage of past black-scholes pricing values fair value ( approximately 25% ( 25 % ) ) .
the fair value of each stock option issued by tenneco to the group in prior periods was estimated on the date of grant using the black-sholes option pricing model using the following ranges of weighted average assumptions for grants during the past three .

Question: is the projected benefit obligation greater than the plan assets at fair value at september 30 1998?
Answer: no
Calculation: greater(-108716, 146579)