Nature of Operations and Basis of Presentation

S&P Global Inc. (together with its consolidated subsidiaries, "S&P Global," the “Company,” “we,” “us” or “our”) is a leading provider of transparent and independent ratings, benchmarks, analytics and data to the capital and commodity markets worldwide.

On April 27, 2016, we changed our name to S&P Global Inc. from McGraw Hill Financial, Inc.

Our operations consist of four reportable segments: S&P Global Ratings, S&P Global Market Intelligence, S&P Dow Jones Indices ("S&P DJ Indices") and S&P Global Platts.


•	S&P Global Ratings is an independent provider of credit ratings, research and analytics to investors, issuers and market participants.


•	S&P Global Market Intelligence is a global provider of multi-asset-class data, research, and analytical capabilities, which integrate cross-asset analytics and desktop services.


•	S&P DJ Indices is a global index provider that maintains a wide variety of valuation and index benchmarks for investment advisors, wealth managers and institutional investors.


•	S&P Global Platts is the leading independent provider of information and benchmark prices for the commodities and energy markets. As of September 7, 2016, we completed the sale of J.D. Power and the results are included in S&P Global Platts through that date.

The S&P Global Ratings segment includes S&P Global Ratings, which is registered with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission as a Nationally Recognized Statistical Rating Organization ("NRSRO"), as well as CRISIL, a global analytical company incorporated in India, and certain other ratings-related businesses.

In February of 2016, we entered into a definitive agreement to sell Standard & Poor's Securities Evaluations, Inc. ("SPSE") and Credit Market Analysis ("CMA"), two businesses within our S&P Global Market Intelligence segment, to Intercontinental Exchange. As a result, we classified the assets and liabilities of SPSE and CMA as held for sale in our consolidated balance sheet as of September 30, 2016. In October of 2016, we completed the sale of SPSE and CMA to Intercontinental Exchange, an operator of global exchanges, clearing houses and data services.

In September of 2016, we completed the sale of J.D. Power, included within our S&P Global Platts segment, for $1.1 billion to XIO Group, a global alternative investments firm headquartered in London. In the fourth quarter of 2015, we began exploring strategic alternatives for J.D. Power and initiated an active program to sell the business. The assets and liabilities of J.D. Power were classified as held for sale in our consolidated balance sheet as of December 31, 2015. During three and nine months ended September 30, 2016, we recorded a pre-tax gain of $722 million ($521 million after-tax) in gain on dispositions in the consolidated statement of income related to the sale of J.D. Power. Following the sale, the assets and liabilities of J.D. Power are no longer reported in our consolidated balance sheet as of September 30, 2016.

The accompanying unaudited financial statements of the Company have been prepared in accordance with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America (“U.S. GAAP”) for interim financial information and with the instructions to Form 10-Q and Article 10 of Regulation S-X. Accordingly, they do not include all of the information and footnotes required by U.S. GAAP for complete financial statements. Therefore, the financial statements included herein should be read in conjunction with the financial statements and notes included in our Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2015 (our “Form 10-K”). Certain prior-year amounts have been reclassified to conform with current presentation.

In the opinion of management, all normal recurring adjustments considered necessary for a fair statement of the results of the interim periods have been included. The operating results for the three and nine months ended September 30, 2016 are not necessarily indicative of the results that may be expected for the full year.

Our critical accounting estimates are disclosed in Item 7, Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations, in our Form 10-K. On an ongoing basis, we evaluate our estimates and assumptions, including those related to revenue recognition, allowance for doubtful accounts, valuation of long-lived assets, goodwill and other intangible assets, pension plans, incentive compensation and stock-based compensation, income taxes, contingencies and redeemable noncontrolling interests. Since the date of our Form 10-K, there have been no material changes to our critical accounting policies and estimates.