Machinery, Energy & Transportation (ME&T) – We define ME&T as Caterpillar Inc. and its subsidiaries, excluding Financial Products. ME&T's information relates to the design, manufacturing and marketing of our products.

Financial Products – We define Financial Products as our finance and insurance subsidiaries, primarily Caterpillar Financial Services Corporation (Cat Financial) and Caterpillar Insurance Holdings Inc. (Insurance Services). Financial Products’ information relates to the financing to customers and dealers for the purchase and lease of Caterpillar and other equipment.

We sell our products primarily under the brands “Caterpillar,” “CAT,” design versions of “CAT” and “Caterpillar,” “EMD,” “FG Wilson,” “MWM,” “Perkins,” “Progress Rail,” “SEM” and “Solar Turbines.”

We conduct operations in our ME&T line of business under highly competitive conditions, including intense price competition. We place great emphasis on the high quality and performance of our products and our dealers’ service support. Although no one competitor is believed to produce all of the same types of equipment that we do, there are numerous companies, large and small, which compete with us in the sale of each of our products.

We distribute our machines principally through a worldwide organization of dealers (dealer network), 41 located in the United States and 111 located outside the United States, serving 187 countries. We sell reciprocating engines principally through the dealer network and to other manufacturers for use in products. We also sell some of the reciprocating engines manufactured by our subsidiary Perkins Engines Company Limited through its worldwide network of 88 distributors covering 185 countries. We sell the FG Wilson branded electric power generation systems through its worldwide network of 108 distributors covering 158 countries. Our dealers do not deal exclusively with our products; however, in most cases sales and servicing of our products are the dealers’ principal business. We sell some products, primarily turbines and locomotives, to end customers through sales forces employed by the company. At times, these employees are assisted by independent sales representatives.

The Financial Products line of business also conducts operations under highly competitive conditions. Financing for users of Caterpillar products is available through a variety of competitive sources, principally commercial banks and finance and leasing companies. We offer various financing, insurance and risk management products designed to support sales of our products and generate financing income for our company. We conduct a significant portion of Financial Products activity in North America, with additional offices in Latin America, Asia/Pacific, Europe and Africa.

Investments in companies where our ownership exceeds 20 percent and we do not have a controlling interest or where the ownership is less than 20 percent and for which we have a significant influence are accounted for by the equity method.

We consolidate all variable interest entities (VIEs) where Caterpillar Inc. is the primary beneficiary. The primary beneficiary of a VIE is the party that has both the power to direct the activities that most significantly impact the entity’s economic performance and the obligation to absorb losses or the right to receive benefits that could potentially be significant to the VIE. See Note 21 for further discussion on a consolidated VIE.

Cat Financial has end-user customers and dealers that are VIEs of which we are not the primary beneficiary. Our maximum exposure to loss from our involvement with these VIEs is limited to the credit risk inherently present in the financial support that we have provided. Credit risk was evaluated and reflected in our financial statements as part of our overall portfolio of finance receivables and related allowance for credit losses.

We include shipping and handling costs in Cost of goods sold in Statement 1. Other operating (income) expenses primarily include Cat Financial’s depreciation on equipment leased to others, Insurance Services’ underwriting expenses, (gains) losses on divestitures, employee separation charges, (gains) losses on disposal of long-lived assets and long-lived asset impairment charges.

Prepaid expenses and other current assets in Statement 3 primarily include investments in debt and equity securities, prepaid and refundable income taxes, right of return assets, prepaid insurance, contract assets, assets held for sale, core to be returned for remanufacturing, and restricted cash and other short-term investments.

We state inventories at the lower of cost or net realizable value. We principally determine cost using the last-in, first-out (LIFO) method. The value of inventories on the LIFO basis represented about 65 percent of total inventories at both December 31, 2024 and 2023.

We compute depreciation of plant and equipment principally using accelerated methods. We compute depreciation on equipment leased to others, primarily for Financial Products, using the straight-line method over the term of the lease. The depreciable basis is the original cost of the equipment less the estimated residual value of the equipment at the end of the lease term. In 2024, 2023 and 2022, Cat Financial depreciation on equipment leased to others was $722 million, $713 million and $718 million, respectively, which we include in Other operating (income) expenses in Statement 1. In 2024, 2023 and 2022, consolidated depreciation expense was $1,983 million, $1,929 million and $1,937 million, respectively. We compute amortization of purchased finite-lived intangibles principally using the straight-line method, generally not to exceed a period of 20 years.

The functional currency for most of our ME&T consolidated subsidiaries is the U.S. dollar. The functional currency for most of our Financial Products consolidated subsidiaries is the respective local currency. We include gains and losses resulting from the remeasurement of foreign currency amounts to the functional currency in Other income (expense) in Statement 1. We include gains and losses resulting from translating assets and liabilities from the functional currency to U.S. dollars in Accumulated other comprehensive income (loss) (AOCI) in Statement 3.

Our earnings and cash flow are subject to fluctuations due to changes in foreign currency exchange rates, interest rates, commodity prices and certain deferred compensation plan liabilities. Our Risk Management Policy (policy) allows for the use of derivative financial instruments to prudently manage foreign currency exchange rate, interest rate, commodity price and certain deferred compensation plan liability exposures. Our policy specifies that derivatives are not to be used for speculative purposes. Derivatives that we use are primarily foreign currency forward, option and cross currency contracts, interest rate contracts, commodity forward and option contracts and total return swap contracts. All derivatives are recorded at fair value. See Note 4 for more information.

We determine the provision for income taxes using the asset and liability approach taking into account guidance related to uncertain tax positions. Tax laws require items to be included in tax filings at different times than the items are reflected in the financial statements. We recognize a current liability for the estimated taxes payable for the current year. Deferred taxes represent the future tax consequences expected to occur when the reported amounts of assets and liabilities are recovered or paid. We adjust deferred taxes for enacted changes in tax rates and tax laws. We record valuation allowances to reduce deferred tax assets when it is more likely than not that a tax benefit will not be realized. See Note 6 for further discussion.

For acquisitions accounted for as a business combination, goodwill represents the excess of the cost over the fair value of the net assets acquired. We are required to test goodwill for impairment, at the reporting unit level, annually and when events or circumstances make it more likely than not that an impairment may have occurred. A reporting unit is an operating segment or one level below an operating segment (referred to as a component) to which goodwill is assigned when initially recorded. We assign goodwill to reporting units based on our integration plans and the expected synergies resulting from the acquisition. Because Caterpillar is a highly integrated company, the businesses we acquire are sometimes combined with or integrated into existing reporting units. When changes occur in the composition of our operating segments or reporting units, we reassign goodwill to the affected reporting units based on their relative fair values.

We perform our annual goodwill impairment test as of October 1 and monitor for interim triggering events on an ongoing basis. We review goodwill for impairment utilizing either a qualitative assessment or a quantitative goodwill impairment test. If we choose to perform a qualitative assessment and determine the fair value more likely than not exceeds the carrying value, no further evaluation is necessary. For reporting units where we perform the quantitative goodwill impairment test, we compare the fair value of each reporting unit, which we primarily determine using an income approach based on the present value of discounted cash flows, to the respective carrying value, which includes goodwill. If the fair value of the reporting unit exceeds its carrying value, we do not consider the goodwill impaired. If the carrying value is higher than the fair value, we would recognize the difference as an impairment loss. See Note 10 for further details.

The preparation of financial statements in conformity with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America requires management to make estimates and assumptions that affect reported amounts. The more significant estimates include: residual values for leased assets, fair values for goodwill impairment tests, warranty liability and reserves for product liability and insurance losses, postretirement benefits, post-sale discounts, credit losses and income taxes.

Segment reporting (ASU 2023-07) — In November 2023, the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) issued accounting guidance that requires incremental disclosures related to reportable segments which includes significant segment expense categories and amounts for each reportable segment. The expanded annual disclosures were effective for our year ending December 31, 2024, and the expanded interim disclosures are effective in 2025 and will be applied retrospectively to all prior periods presented.


ASU			Description
2022-03			Fair value measurement – Equity securities subject to contractual sale restrictions
2023-01			Leases – Common control arrangements
2023-02			Accounting for investments in tax credit structures using the proportional amortization method

Income tax reporting (ASU 2023-09) — In December 2023, the FASB issued accounting guidance to expand the annual disclosure requirements for income taxes, primarily related to the rate reconciliation and income taxes paid. The expanded disclosures are effective for our year ending December 31, 2025 and can be applied prospectively or retrospectively. We are in the process of evaluating the effect of this new guidance on the related disclosures.

Disaggregation of income statement expenses (ASU 2024-03) — In November 2024, the FASB issued accounting guidance to enhance transparency into the nature and function of income statement expenses. The amendments require that, on an annual and interim basis, entities disclose disaggregated operating expense information about specific categories, including purchases of inventory, employee compensation, depreciation and amortization. The expanded

annual disclosures are effective for our year ending December 31, 2027, and the expanded interim disclosures are effective in 2028, with early adoption permitted. We are in the process of evaluating the effect of this new guidance on the related disclosures.