Basis of Presentation and Major Accounting Policies

3 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2018

Accounting Policies [Abstract]

Basis of Presentation and Major Accounting Policies

BASIS OF PRESENTATION AND MAJOR ACCOUNTING POLICIES

The interim consolidated financial statements of Air Products and Chemicals, Inc. and its subsidiaries (“we,” “our,” “us,” the “Company,” “Air Products,” or “registrant”) included herein have been prepared by us, without audit, pursuant to the rules and regulations of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Certain information and footnote disclosures normally included in financial statements prepared in accordance with U.S. generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP) have been condensed or omitted pursuant to such rules and regulations. In our opinion, the accompanying statements reflect adjustments necessary to present fairly the financial position, results of operations, and cash flows for those periods indicated and contain adequate disclosure to make the information presented not misleading. Adjustments included herein are of a normal, recurring nature unless otherwise disclosed in the notes. The notes to the interim consolidated financial statements, unless otherwise indicated, are on a continuing operations basis.

In order to fully understand the basis of presentation, the consolidated financial statements and related notes included herein should be read in conjunction with the consolidated financial statements and notes thereto included in our 2018 Form 10-K. Results of operations for interim periods are not necessarily indicative of the results of operations for a full year.

Refer to our 2018 Form 10-K for a description of major accounting policies. During the first three months of fiscal year 2019, these policies were impacted by the implementation of certain new accounting guidance, including the adoption of Accounting Standards Codification (ASC) Topic 606, Revenue from Contracts with Customers, and all related amendments (“the new revenue standard”). We adopted the new revenue standard as of 1 October 2018 under the modified retrospective approach. Comparative prior year information has not been restated and continues to be reported under the accounting standards in effect for those periods. Our updated revenue recognition policy, which reflects the principles under the new revenue standard, is discussed below.

Other than the adoption of new accounting guidance as discussed in Note 2, New Accounting Guidance, there have been no notable changes to our accounting policies during the first three months of fiscal year 2019.

Certain prior year information has been reclassified to conform to the fiscal year 2019 presentation.

Revenue Recognition

The Company recognizes revenue when or as performance obligations are satisfied, which occurs when control is transferred to the customer.

We determine the transaction price of our contracts based on the amount of consideration to which we expect to be entitled to receive in exchange for the goods or services provided. Our contracts within the scope of revenue guidance do not contain payment terms that would be considered a significant financing component.

Our sale of gas contracts are either accounted for over time during the period in which we deliver or make available the agreed upon quantity of goods or at a point in time when the customer receives and obtains control of the product, which generally occurs upon delivery. We generally recognize revenue from our sale of gas contracts based on the right to invoice practical expedient.

Our sale of equipment contracts are generally comprised of a single performance obligation as the individual promised goods or services contained within the contracts are integrated with or dependent upon other goods or services in the contract for a single output to the customer. Revenue from our sale of equipment contracts is generally recognized over time as we have an enforceable right to payment for performance completed to date and our performance under the contract terms does not create an asset with alternative use. We recognize these contracts using a cost incurred input method by which costs incurred to date relative to total estimated costs at completion are used to measure progress toward satisfying performance obligations.

Amounts billed for shipping and handling fees are classified as sales in the consolidated income statements. Shipping and handling activities for our sale of equipment contracts may be performed after the customer obtains control of the promised goods. In these cases, we have elected to apply the practical expedient to account for shipping and handling as activities to fulfill the promise to transfer the goods. For our sale of gas contracts, control generally transfers to the customer upon delivery.

Amounts billed for sales and use taxes, value-added taxes, and certain excise and other specific transactional taxes imposed on revenue-producing transactions are presented on a net basis and excluded from sales in the consolidated income statements.

For additional information, refer to Note 3, Revenue Recognition.