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Accounting Standards (Policies)
9 Months Ended
Sep. 30, 2024
Accounting Policies [Abstract]  
Basis of Presentation
The accompanying unaudited condensed consolidated financial statements were prepared following the requirements of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for interim reporting. As permitted under those rules, certain footnotes or other financial information that are normally required by accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America (U.S. GAAP) can be condensed or omitted. Balance sheet amounts and operating results for subsidiaries operating outside the U.S. are as of and for the three and nine months ended August 31, 2024 and August 31, 2023.
Revenue, expenses, assets and liabilities can vary during each quarter of the year. Therefore, the results and trends in these interim financial statements may not be representative of those for the full year.
Certain reclassifications of prior year information have been made to conform to the current year's presentation.
We are responsible for the unaudited condensed consolidated financial statements included in this Form 10-Q. The condensed consolidated financial statements include all normal and recurring adjustments that are considered necessary for the fair presentation of our financial position and operating results. The information included in this interim report should be read in conjunction with the financial statements and accompanying notes included in our 2023 Annual Report on Form 10-K.
Recently Issued Accounting Standards
Recently Issued Accounting Standards
In December 2023, the FASB issued ASU No. 2023-07, Segment Reporting (Topic 280): Improvements to Reportable Segment Disclosures. The new guidance requires expanded annual and interim disclosures for significant segment expenses that are regularly provided to the chief operating decision maker and included within each reported measure of segment profit or loss. This update is effective for fiscal years beginning after December 15, 2023 and interim periods within fiscal years beginning after December 15, 2024. The update is to be applied retrospectively to all periods presented in the financial statements. Early adoption is permitted. The adoption of this guidance will impact our disclosures only and we do not expect it to have an impact on our consolidated financial statements.
In December 2023, the FASB issued ASU No. 2023-09, Income Taxes (Topic 740): Improvements to Income Tax disclosures. The new guidance requires standardized categories for the effective tax rate reconciliation, disaggregation of income taxes paid and other income tax-related disclosures. This update is effective for fiscal years beginning after December 15, 2024. We are currently evaluating the impact that the new guidance will have on our notes to the consolidated financial statements.
Tax Contingencies
Our tax liabilities for uncertain tax positions relate primarily to issues common among multinational corporations. Any settlements or statute of limitations expirations could result in a significant decrease in our uncertain tax positions. Substantially all of these unrecognized tax benefits, if recognized, would impact our effective income tax rate. We do not expect that within the next twelve months any of our uncertain tax positions could significantly decrease as a result of settlements with taxing authorities or the expiration of the statutes of limitations. Our assessments are based on estimates and assumptions that have been deemed reasonable by management, but our estimates of uncertain tax positions and potential tax benefits may not be representative of actual outcomes, and any variation from such estimates could materially affect our financial statements in the period of settlement or when the statutes of limitations expire, as we treat these events as discrete items in the period of resolution. Finalizing audits with the relevant taxing authorities can include formal administrative and legal proceedings, and, as a result, it is difficult to estimate the timing and range of possible changes related to our uncertain tax positions, and such changes could be significant.
Status of Tax Audits and Potential Impact on Accrual for Uncertain Tax Positions
We are currently under income tax audit by the U.S. Internal Revenue Service (IRS) for tax years 2017 and 2018. In July 2024, the IRS issued Notices of Proposed Adjustment (NOPA) related to the one-time mandatory deemed repatriation tax incurred on the 2018 U.S. Federal Income Tax return. In September 2024, the IRS issued a Revenue Agent Report for the adjustments identified in the NOPA. As of September 30, 2024, the additional tax liability, based on the income adjustment proposed by the IRS under the NOPA, is approximately $450 million, excluding interest and penalties.
Based on current facts and circumstances, we disagree with the IRS’ position and will defend our position taken on the 2018 U.S. Federal Income Tax return. We believe the amount previously accrued related to this uncertain tax position remains appropriate, but we will continue to evaluate the adequacy of our tax reserve as the audit progresses. However, the outcome of tax audits cannot be predicted with certainty. If any issues addressed in our tax audits are not consistent with management’s expectations, we could be required to adjust our provision for income taxes and this amount could be material to our financial statements.
Legal Proceedings
A. Legal Proceedings
Our non-tax contingencies include, among others, the following:
•    Product liability and other product-related litigation, which can include injury, consumer, off-label promotion, antitrust and breach of contract claims.
•    Commercial and other matters, which can include product-pricing claims and environmental claims and proceedings.
•    Patent litigation, which typically involves challenges to the coverage and/or validity of our patents or those of third parties on various products or processes.
•    Government investigations, which can involve regulation by national, state and local government agencies in the U.S. and in other countries.
Certain of these contingencies could result in losses, including damages, fines and/or civil penalties, and/or criminal charges, which could be substantial.
We believe that we have strong defenses in these types of matters, but litigation is inherently unpredictable and excessive verdicts do occur. We do not believe that any of these matters will have a material adverse effect on our financial position. However, we could incur judgments, enter into settlements or revise our expectations regarding the outcome of certain matters, and such developments could have a material adverse effect on our results of operations or cash flows in the period in which the amounts are paid.
We have accrued for losses that are both probable and reasonably estimable. Substantially all of these contingencies are subject to significant uncertainties and, therefore, determining the likelihood of a loss and/or the measurement of any loss can be complex. Consequently, we are unable to estimate the range of reasonably possible loss in excess of amounts accrued. Our assessments are based on estimates and assumptions that have been deemed reasonable by management, but the assessment process relies on estimates and assumptions that may prove to be incomplete or inaccurate, and unanticipated events and circumstances may occur that might cause us to change those estimates and assumptions.
Amounts recorded for legal and environmental contingencies can result from a complex series of judgments about future events and uncertainties and can rely on estimates and assumptions.
The principal matters to which we are a party are discussed below. In determining whether a pending matter is significant for financial reporting and disclosure purposes, we consider both quantitative and qualitative factors in order to assess materiality, such as, among other things, the amount of damages and the nature of any other relief sought in the proceeding, if such damages and other relief are specified; our view of the merits of the claims and of the strength of our defenses; whether the action purports to be a class action and our view of the likelihood that a class will be certified by the court; the jurisdiction in which the proceeding is pending; any experience that we or, to our knowledge, other companies have had in similar proceedings; whether disclosure of the action would be important to a reader of our financial statements, including whether disclosure might change a reader’s judgment about our financial statements in light of all of the information about the company that is available to the reader; the potential impact of the proceeding on our reputation; and the extent of public interest in the matter. In addition, with respect to patent matters, we consider, among other things, the financial significance of the product protected by the patent.
Guarantees and Indemnifications
B. Guarantees and Indemnifications
In the ordinary course of business and in connection with the sale of assets and businesses, we indemnify our counterparties against certain liabilities that may arise in connection with the transaction or related to activities prior to the transaction. These indemnifications typically pertain to environmental, tax, employee and/or product-related matters and patent-infringement claims. If the indemnified party were to make a successful claim pursuant to the terms of the indemnification, we would be required to reimburse the loss. These indemnifications are generally subject to threshold amounts, specified claim periods and other restrictions and limitations. Historically, we have not paid significant amounts under these provisions and, as of September 30, 2024, recorded amounts for the estimated fair value of these indemnifications were not material.
Segment Information
Operating Segments
We manage our operations through two geographic operating segments: the U.S. and International. Each operating segment has responsibility for its commercial activities. Within each of these operating segments, we offer a diversified product portfolio, including parasiticides, vaccines, dermatology, anti-infectives, pain and sedation, other pharmaceutical, animal health diagnostics and medicated feed additives, for both companion animal and livestock customers. Our chief operating decision maker uses the revenue and earnings of the two operating segments, among other factors, for performance evaluation and resource allocation.
Other Costs and Business Activities
Certain costs are not allocated to our operating segment results, such as costs associated with the following:
•    Other business activities, includes our Client Supply Services contract manufacturing results, our human health business, and expenses associated with our dedicated veterinary medicine research and development organization, research alliances, U.S. regulatory affairs and other operations focused on the development of our products. Other R&D-related costs associated with non-U.S. market and regulatory activities are generally included in the international commercial segment.
•    Corporate, includes enabling functions such as information technology, facilities, legal, finance, human resources, business development, certain diagnostic costs and communications, among others. These costs also include certain compensation costs, certain procurement costs and other miscellaneous operating expenses not charged to our operating segments, as well as interest income and expense.
Certain transactions and events such as (i) Purchase accounting adjustments, where we incur expenses associated with the amortization of fair value adjustments to inventory, intangible assets and property, plant and equipment; (ii) Acquisition and divestiture-related costs, where we incur costs associated with acquiring and integrating newly acquired businesses, such as transaction costs and integration costs, as well as divestiture-related costs; and (iii) Certain significant items, which comprise substantive, unusual items that, either as a result of their nature or size, would not be expected to occur as part of our normal business on a regular basis, such as restructuring charges and implementation costs associated with our cost-reduction/productivity initiatives that are not associated with an acquisition or divestiture, certain asset impairment charges, certain legal and commercial settlements and the impact of divestiture-related gains and losses.
Other unallocated includes (i) certain overhead expenses associated with our global manufacturing operations not charged to our operating segments; (ii) certain costs associated with finance that specifically support our global manufacturing operations; (iii) certain supply chain and global logistics costs; and (iv) certain procurement costs.
Segment Assets
We manage our assets on a total company basis, not by operating segment. Therefore, our chief operating decision maker does not regularly review any asset information by operating segment and, accordingly, we do not report asset information by operating segment.