Basis of Presentation

3 Months Ended

Mar. 31, 2014

Disclosure Text Block

Basis of Presentation

1. Basis of Presentation

The accounting policies of Telephone and Data Systems, Inc. (“TDS”) conform to accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America (“GAAP”) as set forth in the Financial Accounting Standards Board (“FASB”) Accounting Standards Codification (“ASC”). The consolidated financial statements include the accounts of TDS and its majority-owned subsidiaries, including TDS' 84%-owned wireless telephone subsidiary, United States Cellular Corporation (“U.S. Cellular”) and TDS' wholly-owned subsidiary, TDS Telecommunications Corporation (“TDS Telecom”).In addition, the consolidated financial statements include certain entities in which TDS has a variable interest that require consolidation under GAAP. All material intercompany accounts and transactions have been eliminated.

The consolidated financial statements included herein have been prepared by TDS, without audit, pursuant to the rules and regulations of the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”).  Certain information and disclosures normally included in financial statements prepared in accordance with GAAP have been condensed or omitted pursuant to such rules and regulations. However, TDS believes that the disclosures included herein are adequate to make the information presented not misleading.  These consolidated financial statements should be read in conjunction with the consolidated financial statements and the notes thereto included in TDS' Annual Report on Form 10-K (“Form 10-K”) for the year ended December 31, 2013.

TDS' business segments reflected in this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarterly period ended March 31, 2014 are U.S. Cellular, TDS Telecom's Wireline, Cable andHosted and Managed Services (“HMS”) operations,and the Non-Reportable Segment which includes TDS' majority-owned printing and distribution company, Suttle-Straus, Inc. (“Suttle-Straus”) and TDS' wholly-owned wireless telephone subsidiary, Airadigm Communications, Inc. (“Airadigm”). Periods presented for comparative purposes have been re-presented to conform to this segment presentation.All of TDS' segments operate only in the United States, except for HMS, which includes an insignificant foreign operation. See Note 11 — Business Segment Information for summary financial information on each business segment.

The accompanying unaudited consolidated financial statements contain all adjustments (consisting of only normal recurring items, unless otherwise disclosed) necessary for a fair statement of the financial position as of March 31, 2014 and December 31, 2013, and the results of operations, changes in comprehensive income, cash flows and equity for the three months ended March 31, 2014 and 2013. These resultsare not necessarily indicative of the results to be expected for the full year.

Recently Issued Accounting Pronouncements

On April 10, 2014, the FASB issued Accounting Standards Update 2014-08, Reporting Discontinued Operations and Disclosures of Disposals of Components of an Entity (“ASU 2014-08”). ASU 2014-08 changes the requirements and disclosures for reporting discontinued operations. TDS is required to adopt the provisions of ASU 2014-08 effective January 1, 2015, although early adoption is permitted. The adoption of ASU 2014-08 is not expected to have a significant impact on TDS' financial position or results of operations.

Reclassifications

Certain prior year amounts have been reclassified to conform to the 2014 financial statement presentation. These reclassifications did not affect consolidated net income attributable to TDS shareholders, cash flows, assets, liabilities or equity for the years presented.

In 2014, TDS began displaying separately Equipment and product sales and Cost of equipment and products. As a result of recent HMS acquisitions, these amounts are now more significant to TDS and, accordingly, are shown as separate captions under Operating revenues and Operating expenses, respectively, on the Consolidated Statement of Operations. Amounts in 2013 have been reclassified to conform to the 2014 presentation.

Amounts Collected from Customers and Remitted to Governmental Authorities

If a tax is assessed upon the customer and TDS merely acts as an agent in collecting the tax on behalf of the imposing governmental authority, then amounts collected from customers and remitted to governmental authorities are recorded on a net basis within a tax liability account in the Consolidated Balance Sheet. If the tax is assessed upon TDS, then amounts collected from customers as recovery of the tax are recorded in Service revenues and amounts remitted to governmental authorities are recorded in Selling, general and administrative expenses in the Consolidated Statement of Operations. The amounts recorded gross in revenues that are billed to customers and remitted to governmental authorities totaled $31.0millionand $36.1 million for the threemonths ended March 31, 2014, and 2013, respectively.