Summary of Significant Accounting Policies

3 Months Ended

Mar. 31, 2020

Accounting Policies [Abstract]

Summary of Significant Accounting Policies

Summary of Significant Accounting Policies

We have not made any changes to our significant accounting policies disclosed in our 2019 Annual Report on Form 10-K.

Use of Estimates

The preparation of consolidated financial statements in conformity with US GAAP requires management to make certain estimates that affect the reported amounts in the consolidated financial statements and accompanying notes. Actual results could differ materially from those estimates.

Revenue Recognition

We account for our rental revenues and tenant recoveries in accordance with Topic 842 "Leases". Rental revenues and tenant recoveries are included in: (i) Rental revenues and tenant recoveries under Office rental, and (ii) Rental revenues under Multifamily rental, in our consolidated statements of operations.

We account for our office parking revenues in accordance with ASC 606 "Revenue from Contracts with Customers". Office parking revenues are included in Parking and other income under Office rental in our consolidated statements of operations. Our lease contracts generally make a specified number of parking spaces available to the tenant, and we bill and recognize parking revenues on a monthly basis in accordance with the lease agreements, generally using the monthly parking rates in effect at the time of billing. Office parking revenues were $30.2 million and $26.4 million for the three months ended March 31, 2020 and 2019, respectively. Office parking receivables were $1.2 million and $1.3 million as of March 31, 2020 and December 31, 2019, respectively, and are included in Tenant receivables in our consolidated balance sheets.

Income Taxes

We have elected to be taxed as a REIT under the Code. Provided that we qualify for taxation as a REIT, we are generally not subject to corporate-level income tax on the earnings distributed currently to our stockholders that we derive from our REIT qualifying activities. We are subject to corporate-level tax on the earnings that we derive through our TRS.

New Accounting Pronouncements 

Changes to US GAAP are implemented by the FASB in the form of ASUs.  We consider the applicability and impact of all ASUs. Other than the ASUs discussed below, the FASB has not issued any other ASUs that we expect to be applicable and have a material impact on our consolidated financial statements.

ASUs Adopted

ASU 2016-13 (Topic 326 - "Financial Instruments-Credit Losses")

In June 2016, the FASB issued ASU No. 2016-13, "Measurement of Credit Losses on Financial Instruments", which amends "Financial Instruments-Credit Losses" (Topic 326). The ASU provides guidance for measuring credit losses on financial instruments. The ASU is effective for fiscal years beginning after December 15, 2019, including interim periods within those years, which for us is the first quarter of 2020. The amendments in the ASU should be applied on a modified-retrospective basis. The ASU impacts our measurement of credit losses for our Office parking receivables, which were $1.2 million and $1.3 million as of March 31, 2020 and December 31, 2019, respectively, and are included in Tenant receivables in our consolidated balance sheets. We adopted the ASU in the first quarter of 2020 and it did not have a material impact on our consolidated financial statements.

ASU 2020-04 (Topic 848 - "Reference Rate Reform")

In March 2020, the FASB issued ASU No. 2020-04, "Reference Rate Reform". The ASU contains practical expedients for reference rate reform related activities that impact debt, leases, derivatives and other contracts. The guidance in ASU 2020-04 is optional and may be elected over time as reference rate reform activities occur. We elected to apply the hedge accounting expedients related to probability and the assessments of effectiveness for future LIBOR-indexed cash flows to assume that the index upon which future hedged transactions will be based matches the index on the corresponding derivatives. Application of these expedients maintains the presentation of derivatives consistent with past presentation. We will continue to evaluate the impact of the guidance and may apply other elections, as applicable, as additional changes in the market occur. Our election to apply the hedge accounting expedients did not have a material impact on our consolidated financial statements in the first quarter of 2020.