Significant Accounting Policies

9 Months Ended

Sep. 30, 2014

Accounting Policies [Abstract]

Significant Accounting Policies

Significant Accounting Policies

Basis of Presentation.The accompanying unaudited condensed consolidated financial statements of Silgan Holdings Inc., or Silgan, have been prepared in accordance with U.S. generally accepted accounting principles, or 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 GAAP for complete financial statements.  In the opinion of management, the accompanying financial statements include all adjustments (consisting of normal recurring accruals) considered necessary for a fair presentation.  The results of operations for any interim period are not necessarily indicative of the results of operations for the full year.

The Condensed Consolidated Balance Sheet at December 31, 2013 has been derived from our audited consolidated financial statements at that date, but does not include all of the information and footnotes required by GAAP for complete financial statements.

You should read the accompanying condensed consolidated financial statements in conjunction with our consolidated financial statements and notes thereto included in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2013.

Goodwill and Other Intangible Assets. We review goodwill and other indefinite-lived intangible assets for impairment as of July 1 each year and more frequently if circumstances indicate a possible impairment. We determined that our goodwill and other indefinite-lived intangible assets were not impaired in our annual 2014 assessment performed during the third quarter.

Change in Depreciable Lives. Based on the long duration of utilization of our production assets, due in part to our maintenance practices for such assets, and the consistent outperformance of their depreciable lives, we engaged a third party appraiser to assist in the evaluation of the useful lives of certain production equipment in each of our business segments. As a result of this evaluation, effective January 1, 2014, we increased the estimated useful lives of certain production equipment by an average of approximately 5 years to a maximum depreciable life of 20 years, which increased income from operations by $5.4 million and $16.8 million and net income by $3.5 million and $11.0 million, or $0.06 and $0.17 per diluted share, for the three and nine months ended September 30, 2014, respectively.

Recently Issued Accounting Pronouncement. In May 2014, the Financial Accounting Standards Board issued an accounting standards update that amends the guidance for revenue recognition. This amendment contains principles that will require an entity to recognize revenue to depict the transfer of goods and services to customers at an amount that an entity expects to be entitled to in exchange for those goods or services. This amendment will be effective for us on January 1, 2017. Early adoption is not permitted. We are currently evaluating the impact of this amendment on our consolidated financial statements.