Summary of Significant Accounting Policies

3 Months Ended

Mar. 29, 2020

Summary of Significant Accounting Policies

SUMMARY OF SIGNIFICANT ACCOUNTING POLICIES

Organization. General Dynamics is a global aerospace and defense company that offers a broad portfolio of products and services in business aviation; combat vehicles, weapons systems and munitions; information technology (IT) services; command, control, communications, computers, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (C4ISR) solutions; and shipbuilding and ship repair.

Basis of Consolidation and Classification. The unaudited Consolidated Financial Statements include the accounts of General Dynamics Corporation and our wholly owned and majority-owned subsidiaries. We eliminate all inter-company balances and transactions in the unaudited Consolidated Financial Statements. Some prior-year amounts have been reclassified among financial statement accounts or disclosures to conform to the current-year presentation.

Consistent with industry practice, we classify assets and liabilities related to long-term contracts as current, even though some of these amounts may not be realized within one year.

Further discussion of our significant accounting policies is contained in the other notes to these financial statements.

Interim Financial Statements. The unaudited Consolidated Financial Statements have been prepared pursuant to the rules and regulations of the Securities and Exchange Commission. These rules and regulations permit some of the information and footnote disclosures included in financial statements prepared in accordance with U.S. generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP) to be condensed or omitted.

Our fiscal quarters are typically 13 weeks in length. Because our fiscal year ends on December 31, the number of days in our first and fourth quarters varies slightly from year to year. Operating results for the three-month period ended March 29, 2020, are not necessarily indicative of the results that may be expected for the year ending December 31, 2020.

The unaudited Consolidated Financial Statements contain all adjustments that are of a normal recurring nature necessary for a fair presentation of our results of operations and financial condition for the three-month periods ended March 29, 2020, and March 31, 2019.

These unaudited Consolidated Financial Statements should be read in conjunction with the Consolidated Financial Statements and notes thereto included in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2019.

Use of Estimates and Other Uncertainties. The Coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak has caused significant disruptions to national and global economies. Our U.S.-based businesses are designated as national critical infrastructure companies by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and, as such, have been required to stay open. Within our Aerospace segment, quarantine and travel restrictions in connection with the outbreak have delayed aircraft deliveries and impacted some supply chain providers. Our defense business has experienced minimal disruptions to date. We have instituted various initiatives throughout the company as part of our business continuity programs, and we are working to mitigate risk when disruptions occur. While we expect this situation to be temporary, any longer-term impact to our business is currently unknown due to the uncertainty around the outbreak’s duration and its broader impact.

The nature of our business requires that we make estimates and assumptions in accordance with GAAP. These estimates and assumptions affect the reported amounts of assets and liabilities and the disclosure of contingent assets and liabilities at the date of the financial statements, as well as the reported amounts of revenue and expenses during the reporting period. The COVID-19 outbreak has impacted these estimates and assumptions and will continue to do so. The accounting for long-term contracts requires the use of estimates (see Note C). Our estimates at the end of the first quarter assumed no material impact from the disruptions caused by COVID-19. This assumption was based in part on the expectation that COVID-related costs will be reimbursed by our customers. The United States and other governments have taken steps, such as the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (the CARES Act) and U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) guidance, to provide relief. Through these government actions and our contract provisions, we will seek reimbursement of these costs. As the process for reimbursement has not been finalized, it is possible that our actual reimbursement could be less than 100% of our costs, resulting in a potentially unfavorable impact on the profitability of our contracts. Given the uncertainties, we are unable to estimate an amount or range, if any, of reasonably possible loss for costs that may not be reimbursed.

The company is also monitoring for other long-term impacts of the pandemic, such as the impairment of goodwill, intangibles or other long-lived assets. As of the end of the quarter, we have not identified a triggering event requiring an impairment test.

Property, Plant and Equipment, Net. Property, plant and equipment (PP&E) is carried at historical cost, net of accumulated depreciation. Net PP&E consisted of the following:



	March 29, 2020			December 31, 2019
PP&E	$	9,932		$	9,761
Accumulated depreciation	(5,395		)	(5,286		)
PP&E, net	$	4,537		$	4,475

Accounting Standards Updates. Effective January 1, 2020, we adopted ASU 2016-13, Financial Instruments - Credit Losses (Topic 326): Measurement of Credit Losses on Financial Instruments. ASU 2016-13 significantly changes how entities account for credit losses for financial assets and certain other instruments, including trade receivables and contract assets, that are not measured at fair value through net income. The ASU requires a number of changes to the assessment of credit losses, including the utilization of an expected credit loss model, which requires consideration of a broader range of information to estimate expected credit losses over the entire lifetime of the asset, including losses where probability is considered remote. Additionally, the standard requires the estimation of lifetime expected losses for trade receivables and contract assets that are classified as current. We adopted the standard on a modified retrospective basis and recognized the cumulative effect as a $37 decrease to retained earnings on the date of adoption.

There are other accounting standards that have been issued by the Financial Accounting Standards Board but are not yet effective. These standards are not expected to have a material impact on our results of operations, financial condition or cash flows.