BACKGROUND

9 Months Ended

Feb. 25, 2018

Background [Abstract]

Background

(1) Background

The accompanying Consolidated Financial Statements of General Mills, Inc. (we, us, our, General Mills, or the Company) have been prepared in accordance with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States (U.S. GAAP) for interim financial information and with the rules and regulations for reporting on Form 10-Q. Accordingly, they do not include certain information and disclosures required for comprehensive financial statements. In the opinion of management, all adjustments considered necessary for a fair presentation have been included and are of a normal recurring nature, including the elimination of all intercompany transactions and any noncontrolling and redeemable interests’ share of those transactions. Operating results for the quarter ended February 25, 2018 are not necessarily indicative of the results that may be expected for the fiscal year ending May 27, 2018.

These statements should be read in conjunction with the Consolidated Financial Statements and footnotes included in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended May 28, 2017. The accounting policies used in preparing these Consolidated Financial Statements are the same as those described in Note 2 to the Consolidated Financial Statements in that Form 10-K with the exception of the new accounting requirements adopted in the first quarter of fiscal 2018 for stock-based payments and goodwill impairment testing and new accounting requirements adopted in the third quarter of fiscal 2018 for the reclassification of certain income tax effects from accumulated other comprehensive income to retained earnings. See Note 15 and Note 17 to the Consolidated Financial Statements in Part I, Item 1 of this report for additional information. Certain terms used throughout this report are defined in the “Glossary” section below.

In the nine-month period ended February 25, 2018, we recorded an adjustment related to a prior year which increased income tax expense and total liabilities by $40.5 million in our Consolidated Financial Statements.  We determined the adjustment to be immaterial to our estimated Consolidated Statements of Earnings for the fiscal year ended May 27, 2018.