Basis of Presentation (Policies)

3 Months Ended

Mar. 31, 2017

The accompanying unaudited condensed consolidated financial statements of Hubbell Incorporated (“Hubbell”, the “Company”, “registrant”, “we”, “our” or “us”, which references shall include its divisions and subsidiaries) have been prepared in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles (“GAAP”) for interim financial information. Accordingly, they do not include all of the information and footnotes required by accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America (“U.S.”) for complete financial statements. In the opinion of management, all adjustments consisting only of normal recurring adjustments considered necessary for a fair statement of the results of the periods presented have been included. Operating results for the three months ended March 31, 2017 are not necessarily indicative of the results that may be expected for the year ending December 31, 2017.

The balance sheet at December 31, 2016 has been derived from the audited financial statements at that date but does not include all of the information and footnotes required by accounting principles generally accepted in the U.S. for complete financial statements.

For further information, refer to the consolidated financial statements and footnotes thereto included in the Hubbell Incorporated Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2016.

Recent Accounting Pronouncements

In March 2017, the Financial Accounting Standards Board ("FASB") issued an Accounting Standards Update (ASU 2017-07) relating to the presentation of net periodic pension costs and net periodic post-retirement benefit cost. The new guidance requires the service component of net periodic pension and post-retirement benefit costs to be reported in the same income statement line item as other employee compensation costs, and the other components to be reported outside of operating income. This new guidance is effective for fiscal years beginning after December 15, 2017 and must be applied on a retrospective basis. The Company does not expect the adoption of this guidance will have a material impact on its financial statements.

In August 2016, the FASB issued an Accounting Standards Update (ASU 2016-15) to provide additional guidance and reduce diversity in practice in how certain cash receipts and cash payments are presented and classified in the statement of cash flows. This guidance is effective for fiscal years beginning after December 15, 2017 and early adoption is permitted, including adoption in an interim period. The Company does not expect the adoption of this guidance will have a material impact on its financial statements.

In March 2016, the FASB issued an Accounting Standards Update (ASU 2016-09) relating to the accounting for share-based payments. The new guidance requires all income tax effects of share-based awards to be recognized in the income statement when the awards vest or are settled, and allows companies an additional election in the method to estimate forfeitures of share-based payments. The new guidance also requires excess tax benefits to be classified as an operating activity in the statement of cash flows and cash paid to a tax authority when shares are withheld to satisfy the employer's statutory income tax withholdings be classified as a financing activity. The Company adopted the standard on January 1, 2017. The Company elected to adopt all provisions impacting the Condensed Consolidated Statements of Cash Flows retrospectively, as such the comparable period within the Condensed Consolidated Statements of Cash Flows has been recast to reflect the adoption. The income statement provisions of the new guidance have been adopted prospectively. There is no change to the Company's accounting policy with respect to estimation of forfeitures. The adoption did not have a material impact on the Company's financial statements.

In February 2016, the FASB issued an Accounting Standards Update (ASU 2016-02) related to the accounting for leases. This guidance will require a lessee to recognize a right-to-use asset and a lease liability for both financing and operating leases, with a policy election permitting an exception to this guidance for leases whose term is twelve months or less. For financing leases, the lessee will recognize interest expense and amortization of the right-of-use asset, and for operating leases the lessee will recognize a straight-line lease expense. This guidance is effective for fiscal years beginning after December 15, 2018, with early adoption permitted. The new standard must be adopted using a modified retrospective transition at the beginning of the earliest comparative period presented. The Company is currently assessing the impact of adopting this standard on its financial statements.

In May 2014, the FASB issued an Accounting Standards Update (ASU 2014-09) related to new revenue recognition guidance that supersedes the existing revenue recognition guidance and most industry-specific guidance applicable to revenue recognition. According to the new guidance an entity will apply a principles-based five step model to recognize revenue upon the transfer of promised goods or services to customers and in an amount that reflects the consideration for which the entity expects to be entitled in exchange for those goods or services. The guidance is required to be effective beginning in the first quarter of 2018 (with optional early adoption in 2017). This standard can be applied on either a retrospective or modified retrospective approach. Through the course of 2016 a number of ASU's have been issued which further refine the original guidance issued under ASU 2014-09 and are effective in conjunction with this original standard. The Company is currently reviewing contract terms and assessing the impact of adopting the standard and will provide updates on the expected impact to the Company’s financial statements in future filings, as determined.