Sale of Accounts Receivable

3 Months Ended

Mar. 31, 2013

Sale of Accounts Receivable [Abstract]

Sale of Accounts Receivable

Note 15.     Sale of Accounts Receivable

On March 27, 2012, the Company entered into an amendment of its accounts receivable securitization program (as amended, the “Program”) with certain commercial paper conduit purchasers and committed purchasers (collectively, the “Purchasers”).  Under the Program, certain U.S.-originated trade accounts receivable are sold to a wholly-owned bankruptcy-remote entity, ADM Receivables, LLC (“ADM Receivables”).  ADM Receivables in turn transfers such purchased accounts receivable in their entirety to the Purchasers pursuant to a receivables purchase agreement.  In exchange for the transfer of the accounts receivable, ADM Receivables receives a cash payment of up to $1.0 billion and an additional amount upon the collection of the accounts receivable (deferred consideration). ADM Receivables uses the cash proceeds from the transfer of receivables to the Purchasers and other consideration to finance the purchase of receivables from the Company and the ADM subsidiaries originating the receivables. The Company accounts for these transfers as sales.  The Company has no retained interests in the transferred receivables, other than collection and administrative responsibilities and its right to the deferred consideration.  At March 31, 2013 and December 31, 2012, the Company did not record a servicing asset or liability related to its retained responsibility, based on its assessment of the servicing fee, market values for similar transactions and its cost of servicing the receivables sold. The Program terminates on June 29, 2013 unless extended.  The Company intends to renew this $1.0 billion facility on or before June 29, 2013.

As of March 31, 2013,  the fair value of trade receivables transferred to the Purchasers under the Program and derecognized from the Company’s consolidated balance sheet was $1.6 billion.  In exchange for the transfer, the Company received cash of $1.0 billion and recorded a $0.6 billion receivable for deferred consideration included in other current assets.  Cash collections from customers on receivables sold were $9.8 billion and $355 million for the quarter ended March 31, 2013 and 2012, respectively.  Of this amount,  $9.8 billion and  $355million pertains to cash collections on the deferred consideration for the quarter ended March 31, 2013 and 2012, respectively.  Deferred consideration is paid to the Company in cash on behalf of the Purchasers as receivables are collected; however, as this is a revolving facility, cash collected from the Company’s customers is reinvested by the Purchasers daily in new receivable purchases under the Program.

The Company’s risk of loss following the transfer of accounts receivable under the Program is limited to the deferred consideration outstanding.  The Company carries the deferred consideration at fair value determined by calculating the expected amount of cash to be received and is principally based on observable inputs (a Level 2 measurement under the applicable accounting standards) consisting mainly of the face amount of the receivables adjusted for anticipated credit losses and discounted at the appropriate market rate.  Payment of deferred consideration is not subject to significant risks other than delinquencies and credit losses on accounts receivable transferred under the program which have historically been insignificant. 

Transfers of receivables under the Program during the three months ended March 31, 2013 and 2012 resulted in an expense for the loss on sale of $1 million for both periods, classified as other (income) expense - net in the consolidated statements of earnings. 

The Company reflects all cash flows related to the Program as operating activities in its consolidated statements of cash flows for the three months ended March 31, 2013 and 2012 because the cash received from the Purchasers upon both the sale and collection of the receivables is not subject to significantly differentrisks given the short-term nature of the Company’s trade receivables.