Accounting Policies (Policies)

9 Months Ended

Sep. 30, 2018

Accounting Policies [Abstract]

Basis of Financial Statement Presentation

The accompanying unaudited interim condensed consolidated financial statements of Alamo Group Inc. and its subsidiaries (the “Company”) have been prepared in accordance with U.S. generally accepted accounting principles (“GAAP”) for interim financial information and with the instructions to Form 10-Q and Article 10 of Regulations S-X.  Accordingly, they do not include all of the information and footnotes required by U.S. GAAP for complete financial statements.  In the opinion of management, all adjustments (consisting of normal recurring accruals) considered necessary for a fair presentation have been included.  Operating results for the periods presented are not necessarily indicative of the results that may be expected for the year ending December 31, 2018.  The balance sheet at December 31, 2017 has been derived from the audited financial statements at that date but does not include all of the information and footnotes required by U.S. GAAP for complete financial statements.  For further information, refer to the consolidated financial statements and footnotes thereto included in the Company’s annual report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2017 (the "2017 10-K").

New Accounting Pronouncements

Accounting Pronouncements Adopted on January 1, 2018

In May 2014, the Financial Accounting Standards Board ("FASB") issued Accounting Standards Update (ASU) No. 2014-09, “Revenue from Contracts with Customers (Topic 606),” which supersedes the revenue recognition requirements in Accounting Standards Codification ("ASC") Topic 605. “Revenue Recognition,” and most industry-specific guidance. Effective January 1, 2018 the Company adopted the provisions of Topic 606 using the modified retrospective method of adoption. There was no impact to our financial position or results of operations as of and for the nine months ended September 30, 2018 as a result of adopting Topic 606. Therefore, there was no cumulative-effect adjustment to retained earnings as of January 1, 2018 for the impact of the adoption of Topic 606. See “Revenue Recognition” below for our accounting policy affected by our adoption of Topic 606.

In March 2017, the FASB issued ASU No. 2017-07, “Compensation-Retirement Benefits (Topic 715),” which requires employers to report the service cost component of net periodic pension cost and net periodic postretirement benefit cost in the same line item as other compensation costs arising from services rendered by the pertinent employees during the period. It also requires the other components of net periodic pension cost and net periodic postretirement benefit cost (non-service cost components) to be presented in the income statement separately from the service cost component and outside a subtotal of income from operations. This ASU is to be applied retrospectively for income statement items and prospectively for any capitalized benefit costs. The adoption of this ASU effective January 1, 2018 did not affect our financial position or results of operations. Accordingly, for the three months ended September 30, 2018 and 2017, we reclassified the non-service cost components out of selling, general and administrative expenses of $62,000 and $150,000 respectively, and into other income (expense), net. For the nine months ended September 30, 2018 and 2017 we reclassified the non-service cost components out of selling, general and administrative expenses of $187,000 and $450,000 respectively, and into other income (expense), net.

Accounting Pronouncements Not Yet Adopted

In February 2016, the FASB issued ASU No. 2016-02, “Leases.” This update requires that a lessee recognize in the statement of financial position a liability to make lease payments and a right-of-use asset representing its right to use the underlying asset for the lease term. For leases with a term of 12 months or less, a lessee is permitted to make an accounting policy election by class of underlying asset not to recognize lease assets and lease liabilities. Similar to current guidance, the update continues to differentiate between finance leases and operating leases, however this distinction now primarily relates to differences in the manner of expense recognition over time and in

the classification of lease payments in the statement of cash flows. The updated guidance leaves the accounting for leases by lessors largely unchanged from existing GAAP. Entities may elect the modified retrospective method of adoption or a cumulative transition adjustment on the effective date. The guidance will become effective for us on January 1, 2019 and we have not yet elected a transition method. We are evaluating the impacts that adoption of the ASU is expected to have on our consolidated financial statements and related disclosures. We anticipate this standard will have a material impact on our financial position by increasing our assets and liabilities by equal amounts through the recognition of right-of-use assets and lease liabilities for our operating leases. However, we do not expect adoption to have a material impact on our results of operations or liquidity. Additionally, we are evaluating the effect of the ASU on our internal control over financial reporting or other potential changes in business practices and processes including contract review and approval procedures.

In February 2018, the FASB issued ASU 2018-02, “Reclassification of Certain Tax Effects from Accumulated Other Comprehensive Income,” to allow reclassification from accumulated other comprehensive income to retained earnings for stranded tax effects resulting from the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act ("TCJA"). Upon adoption of the ASU, entities will be required to disclose a description of the accounting policy for releasing income tax effects from accumulated other comprehensive income. The standard is required to be adopted for periods beginning after December 15, 2018, with early adoption available for any set of financial statements that have yet to be issued or made available for issuance including retrospectively for any period in which the effect of the change is the U.S. corporate income tax rate in the TCJA is recognized. The Company has not yet determined the effect of the ASU.

In March 2018, the FASB issued ASU No. 2018-05, “Income Taxes (Topic 740)-Amendments to SEC Paragraphs Pursuant to SEC Staff Accounting Bulletin No. 118,” which amends certain SEC material in Topic 740 for the income tax accounting implications of the recently issued Tax Reform. This guidance clarifies the application of Topic 740 in situations where a registrant does not have the necessary information available, prepared, or analyzed in reasonable detail to complete the accounting under ASC Topic 740 for certain income tax effects of Tax Reform for the reporting period in which the Tax Reform was enacted. We are currently evaluating the effects of Tax Reform, and in the absence of clarifying guidance in the application of certain provisions of Tax Reform, we used reasonable estimates to determine our provisional tax amounts and are awaiting guidance for those items for which a reasonable estimate cannot be made.

In August 2018, the FASB issued Accounting Statement Update (ASU) No. 2018-13 “Fair Value Measurement (Topic 820): Disclosure Framework—Changes to the Disclosure Requirements for Fair Value Measurement”, which modifies the disclosures requirements on fair value measurements. Among other things, the amendments add disclosures for changes in unrealized gains and losses on Level 3 fair value measurements and requires additional disclosures on unobservable inputs associated with Level 3 assets. The guidance will become effective for us on January 1, 2020. The impacts that adoption of the ASU is expected to have on our financial disclosures is being evaluated.

In August 2018, the FASB issued Accounting Statement Update (ASU) No. 2018-14, “Compensation, Defined Benefit Plans,” which modifies the disclosure requirements for employers that sponsor defined benefit pension or other postretirement plans. The update removes certain disclosures that are no longer considered cost beneficial and adds disclosure requirements identified as relevant. The guidance will become effective for us on January 1, 2021 with early adoption permitted for any financial statements that have not been issued. The impacts that adoption of the ASU is expected to have on our financial disclosures is being evaluated.

Revenue Recognition

Revenue Recognition

The following policy resulted from our adoption of the provisions of ASC Topic 606, “Revenue from Contracts with Customers,” effective January 1, 2018, as described above in “Accounting Pronouncements Adopted on January 1, 2018.”

The majority of the Company's revenue is recognized from product sales under contracts with customers. The Company presents three reportable operating segments within its financial statements; Industrial, Agricultural and European. Contract terms and performance obligations within each contractual agreement are generally consistent for all three divisions with small differences that do not have a significant impact on the revenue recognition considerations under Topic 606. Revenues are recognized when we satisfy our performance obligation to transfer

product to our customers, which typically occurs at a point in time upon shipment or delivery of the product, and for an amount that reflects the transaction price that is allocated to the performance obligation. Our contracts with customers state the final terms of sale, including the description, quantity and price for goods sold. In the normal course of business, we generally do not accept product returns.

The transaction price is the consideration that we expect to be entitled to in exchange for our products. Some of our contracts contain variable consideration in the form of sales incentives to our customers, such as discounts and rebates. For contracts that include variable consideration, we estimate the factors that determine the variable consideration in order to establish the transaction price.

We have elected that any taxes collected from customers and remitted to government authorities (i.e. sales tax, use tax, etc.) are excluded from the measurement of the transaction price and therefore are excluded from net sales in the consolidated statements of operations.

There are instances where we provide shipping services in relation to the goods sold to our customers. Shipping and handling costs that occur before the customer obtains control of the goods are deemed to be fulfillment activities and are included in cost of goods sold. We have elected to account for shipping and handling activities that occur after the customer has obtained control of a good as fulfillment activities (i.e. an expense) rather than as a promised service.