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Accounting Pronouncements
12 Months Ended
Dec. 31, 2016
Accounting Pronouncements  
Accounting Pronouncements

2.  Accounting Pronouncements

 

Recently Adopted Accounting Standards

 

In November 2015, accounting guidance was issued that requires classification of all deferred tax assets and liabilities, along with any related valuation allowances, as noncurrent on the balance sheet. As a result, each tax jurisdiction will now only have one net noncurrent deferred tax asset or liability. The guidance, however, does not change the existing requirement that only permits offsetting within a tax jurisdiction; therefore, companies are still prohibited from offsetting deferred tax liabilities from one jurisdiction against deferred tax assets of another tax jurisdiction. The guidance was applied prospectively on January 1, 2016. Prior period information was not adjusted.

 

In September 2015, amendments to existing accounting guidance were issued to simplify the accounting for adjustments made to provisional amounts recognized in business combinations. Under the previous guidance, companies were required to retrospectively revise comparative financial statements for changes made to provisional amounts. The amended guidance eliminates the requirement to retrospectively account for these adjustments. The guidance was applied prospectively to adjustments to provisional amounts that occurred on or after January 1, 2016. The guidance did not have a material effect on the company’s consolidated financial statements.

   

In July 2015, amendments to existing accounting guidance were issued to modify the subsequent measurement of inventory. Under previous guidance, a company measured inventory at the lower of cost or market, with market defined as replacement cost, net realizable value, or net realizable value less a normal profit margin. Current replacement cost could be used provided that it was not above the net realizable value (ceiling) or below net realizable value less a normal profit margin (floor). The new guidance requires a company to subsequently measure inventory at the lower of cost or net realizable value and eliminates the need to determine replacement cost and evaluate whether it is above the ceiling or below the floor. Net realizable value is defined as the estimated selling prices in the ordinary course of business, less reasonably predictable costs of completion, disposal and transportation. The guidance was applied prospectively on January 1, 2016, and did not have a material effect on the company’s consolidated financial statements.

 

In May 2015, amendments to the existing accounting guidance were issued to remove the requirement to categorize net asset value per share, currently utilized as a practical expedient, by investment within the fair value hierarchy based on redeemable dates. This amendment also removes the requirement to make certain disclosures for all investments that are eligible to be measured at fair value using the net asset value per share expedient. The guidance was applied modified retrospectively on January 1, 2016, and did not have a material effect on the company’s consolidated financial statements.

 

In April 2015, amendments to existing accounting guidance were issued to provide explicit guidance related to a customer’s accounting for fees paid in a cloud computing arrangement. Under the guidance, cloud computing arrangements that include a software license are to be accounted for consistent with the acquisition of other software licenses. Conversely, cloud computing arrangements that do not include a software license are to be accounted for as a service contract or other applicable accounting guidance. This guidance was applied prospectively on January 1, 2016, and did not have a material effect on the company’s consolidated financial statements.

 

In April 2015, accounting guidance was issued to change the balance sheet presentation for debt issuance costs. Under the new guidance, debt issuance costs are presented as a direct deduction from the long-term debt, consistent with debt discounts, rather than as a deferred charge. The guidance does not affect the recognition and measurement of debt issuance costs; hence, amortization of debt issuance will continue to be reported as interest expense. This guidance was applied retrospectively on January 1, 2016, and resulted in decreases of other assets and long-term debt by $80 million from the amounts previously reported as of December 31, 2015.

 

In February 2015, amendments to existing accounting guidance were issued that modify the analysis companies must perform in order to determine whether a legal entity should be consolidated. The new guidance includes modifications related to: 1) limited partnerships and similar legal entities, 2) evaluating fees paid to a decision maker or service provider as a variable interest, 3) the effect of fee arrangements on the primary beneficiary, 4) the effect of related parties on the primary beneficiary, and 5) certain investment funds. In October 2016, the FASB provided additional amendments to the guidance that changes the evaluation of whether a reporting entity is the primary beneficiary of a variable interest entity by changing how a reporting entity that is a single decision maker of a variable interest entity treats indirect interests in the entity held through related parties that are under common control with the reporting entity. This guidance was applied on a modified retrospective basis on January 1, 2016, and did not have a material effect on the company’s consolidated financial statements.

 

In January 2015, accounting guidance was issued to eliminate the concept of extraordinary items. Previous guidance required extraordinary events, defined as both unusual in nature and infrequent in occurrence, to be reported as separate line items from results of ordinary operations within company financial statements. The disclosure requirements will be for items and events which are unusual in nature and/or infrequent in occurrence. Companies have the option of disclosing such items as a separate component of income from continuing operations or disclosing unusual and/or infrequent events in the notes to the financial statements. The guidance was applied prospectively on January 1, 2016, and did not have a material effect on the company’s consolidated financial statements.

 

In August 2014, accounting guidance was issued to define management’s responsibility to evaluate whether there is substantial doubt about an entity’s ability to continue as a going concern and to provide related footnote disclosures in certain circumstances. Under the new guidance, management is required to evaluate, at each annual and interim reporting period, whether there are conditions or events that raise substantial doubt about the entity’s ability to continue as a going concern within one year after the date the financial statements are issued and to provide related disclosures. The guidance was effective on December 31, 2016, and did not have a material effect on the company’s consolidated financial statements.

 

New Accounting Guidance

 

In February 2017, amendments to existing guidance were issued to clarify the scope of ASC Subtopic 610-20, Other Income-Gains and Losses from the Derecognition of Nonfinancial Assets and to add guidance for partial sales of nonfinancial assets. The guidance requires that all entities account for the derecognition of a business in accordance with ASC 810, including instances in which the business is considered in substance real estate. This guidance is required to be applied using a full retrospective approach or a modified retrospective approach on January 1, 2018, and early adoption is permitted.  The company is currently assessing the impact that the adoption of this new guidance will have on its consolidated financial statements.

 

In January 2017, amendments to existing guidance were issued simplifying an entity’s subsequent goodwill measurement by eliminating Step 2, which requires a hypothetical purchase price allocation, from its annual or interim goodwill impairment test. An entity should recognize an impairment charge for the amount by which the carrying amount exceeds the reporting unit’s fair value; however, the loss recognized should not exceed the total amount of goodwill allocated to that reporting unit. Additionally, an entity should consider income tax effects from any tax deductible goodwill on the carrying amount of the reporting unit when measuring the goodwill impairment loss, if applicable. This guidance is required to be applied prospectively on January 1, 2020, and early adoption is permitted. The company elected to early adopt this guidance effective January 1, 2017, and does not expect the standard’s adoption to have a material impact on its consolidated financial statements.

 

In January 2017, amendments to existing guidance were issued to further clarify the definition of a business in determining whether or not a company has acquired or sold a business. The amendments provide a screen to determine when an integrated set of assets and activities (collectively referred to as a “set”) is not a business. The screen requires that when substantially all of the fair value of the gross assets acquired (or disposed of) is concentrated in a single identifiable asset or a group of similar identifiable assets, the set is not a business. If the screen is not met, the amendments in this update (1) require that to be considered a business, a set must include, at a minimum, an input and a substantive process that together significantly contribute to the ability to create output and (2) remove the evaluation of whether a market participant could replace missing elements. The amendments also narrow the definition of the term output so that the term is consistent with how outputs are described in Topic 606. The guidance is required to be applied prospectively after December 15, 2017, and early adoption is permitted. The company does not expect the amendments to have a material impact on its consolidated financial statements. 

 

In November 2016, accounting guidance was issued that will require the statement of cash flows to explain the change in the total of cash, cash equivalents and restricted cash or restricted cash equivalents. In addition, restricted cash and restricted cash equivalents will need to be included in a cash reconciliation of beginning-of-period and end-of-period total amounts shown on the statement of cash flows. This guidance is required to be applied retrospectively on January 1, 2018. The company is currently assessing the impact that the adoption of this new guidance will have on its consolidated financial statements.  

 

In October 2016, amendments to existing guidance were issued that will require entities to recognize the income tax consequences of an intra-entity transfer of an asset other than inventory, when the transfer occurs as opposed to when the asset is sold. The amendments also eliminate the exception for an intra-entity transfer of an asset other than inventory. This guidance is required to be applied on a modified retrospective basis through a cumulative-effect adjustment directly to retained earnings on January 1, 2018. The company is currently assessing the impact that the adoption of this new guidance will have on its consolidated financial statements.

 

In August 2016, accounting guidance was issued addressing the following eight specific cash flow issues: debt prepayment or debt extinguishment costs; settlement of zero-coupon debt instruments or other debt instruments with coupon interest rates that are insignificant in relation to the effective interest rate of the borrowing; contingent consideration payments made after a business combination; proceeds from the settlement of insurance claims; proceeds from the settlement of corporate-owned life insurance policies (including bank-owned life insurance policies); distributions received from equity method investees; beneficial interests in securitization transactions; and separately identifiable cash flows and application of the predominance principle. This guidance is required to be applied retrospectively on January 1, 2018. The company is currently assessing the impact that the adoption of this new guidance will have on its consolidated financial statements. 

   

In June 2016, amendments requiring financial assets or a group of financial assets measured at amortized cost basis to be presented at the net amount expected to be collected were finalized. The allowance for credit losses is a valuation account that is deducted from the amortized cost basis of the financial asset to present the net carrying value at the amount expected to be collected on the financial asset. This guidance affects loans, debt securities, trade receivables, net investments in leases, off-balance-sheet credit exposures, reinsurance receivables and any other financial assets not excluded from the scope that have the contractual right to receive cash. The guidance will be effective on January 1, 2020. The company is currently assessing the impact the adoption of this standard will have on its consolidated financial statements.

   

In March 2016, accounting guidance was issued on the effect of derivative contract novations on existing hedge accounting relationships. The amendments clarify that a change in the counterparty to a derivative instrument designated as a hedging instrument does not in and of itself require dedesignation of that hedging relationship, provided that all other hedge accounting criteria continue to be met. The guidance will be applied prospectively on January 1, 2017, and is not expected to have a material effect on the company’s consolidated financial statements.

   

In March 2016, final accounting guidance was issued clarifying that the assessment of whether an embedded contingent put or call option is clearly and closely related to the debt host only requires an analysis of the four-step decision sequence outlined in the accounting standards codification. Consequently, when a contingent put or call option embedded in a debt instrument would be evaluated for possible separate accounting as a derivative instrument, the nature of the exercise contingency would be disregarded. Companies will still need to evaluate other relevant embedded derivative guidance. The guidance will be applied on a modified retrospective basis on January 1, 2017, and is not expected to have a material effect on the company’s consolidated financial statements.

   

In March 2016, final accounting guidance was issued eliminating the requirement to retrospectively apply the equity method in previous periods when an investor initially obtains significant influence over an investee. The new guidance requires the investor to apply the equity method prospectively from the date the investment qualifies for the equity method. The investor will add the carrying value of the existing investment to the cost of the additional investment to determine the initial cost basis of the equity method investment. This guidance will be applied prospectively on January 1, 2017, and is not expected to have a material effect on the company’s consolidated financial statements.

   

In March 2016, amendments to existing accounting guidance were issued to simplify various aspects related to how share-based payments are accounted for and presented in the consolidated financial statements. All excess tax benefits and tax deficiencies should be recognized as income tax provisions (benefits) in the income statement. This change is required to be applied prospectively resulting from settlements after the date of adoption of the guidance. The tax benefit will be recorded when it arises, subject to normal valuation considerations. This change is required to be applied on a modified retrospective basis, with a cumulative effect adjustment to opening retained earnings. All tax related cash flows resulting from share-based payments are to be reported as operating activities on the statement of cash flows with either a prospective or retrospective approach. Other modifications to the guidance include modifications related to minimum statutory tax withholding requirements and accounting policy election for the impact of forfeitures of shared-based payment awards. The guidance will be effective on January 1, 2017. The company is currently assessing the impact the adoption of this standard will have on its consolidated financial statements.

   

In February 2016, lease accounting guidance was issued which, for operating leases, requires a lessee to recognize a right-of-use asset and a lease liability, initially measured at the present value of the lease payments, in its balance sheet. The guidance also requires a lessee to recognize a single lease cost, calculated so that the cost of the lease is allocated over the lease term, generally on a straight-line basis. The guidance will be effective for Ball on January 1, 2019. The company is currently assessing the impact the adoption of this standard will have on its consolidated financial statements.

 

In January 2016, accounting guidance was issued on the classification and measurement of financial assets and liabilities (equity securities and financial liabilities) under the fair value option, and the presentation and disclosure requirements for financial instruments. The guidance modifies how entities measure equity investments and present changes in the fair value of financial liabilities. Under the new guidance, entities will have to measure equity investments that do not result in consolidation and are not accounted under the equity method at fair value and recognize any changes in fair value in net income unless the investments qualify for the new practicality exception. An exception will apply to those equity investments that do not have a readily determinable fair value and do not qualify for the practical expedient to estimate fair value under the guidance and, as such, these investments may be measured at cost. The guidance will be effective on January 1, 2018. The company is currently assessing the impact that the adoption of this new guidance will have on its consolidated financial statements.

 

New Revenue Guidance

In May 2014, the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) and International Accounting Standards Board jointly issued new revenue recognition guidance which outlines a single comprehensive model for entities to use in accounting for revenue arising from contracts with customers. The new guidance contains a more robust framework for addressing revenue issues and is intended to remove inconsistencies in existing guidance and improve comparability of revenue recognition practices across entities, industries, jurisdictions and capital markets. Under the new standard, revenue is recognized when a customer obtains control of promised goods or services and is recognized in an amount that reflects the consideration which the entity expects to receive in exchange for those goods or services. In addition, the standard requires disclosure of the nature, amount, timing and uncertainty of revenue and cash flows arising from contracts with customers. In July 2015, the FASB approved the deferral of the effective date of the new revenue recognition guidance by one year. The new standard is effective for annual reporting periods beginning after December 15, 2017.

In March 2016, the principal versus agent guidance within the new revenue recognition standard was amended to clarify how an entity should identify the unit of accounting for the principal versus agent evaluation. The new standard requires an entity to determine whether it is a principal or an agent in a transaction in which another party is involved in providing goods or services to a customer, by evaluating the nature of its promise to the customer. An entity is a principal and records revenue on a gross basis if it controls the promised good or service before transferring the good or service to the customer. An entity is an agent and records as revenue the net amount it retains for its agency services if its role is to arrange for another entity to provide the goods or services. 

In May 2016, narrow scope amendments and practical expedients were issued to clarify the new revenue recognition standard. The amendments clarify the collectability criterion of the revenue standard wherein an entity is allowed to recognize revenue in the amount of consideration received when the following criteria are met: the entity has transferred control of the goods or services, the entity has stopped transferring goods or services, or has no obligation under the contract to transfer additional goods or services, and the consideration received from the customer is nonrefundable. The amendments also clarify the following: the fair value of noncash consideration be measured at contract inception when determining the transaction price, allows an entity to make an accounting policy election to exclude from the transaction price certain types of taxes collected from a customer when the company discloses that policy, for contracts to be considered completed at transition, all (or substantially all) of the revenue must have been recognized under legacy GAAP, and a practical expedient is provided in which an entity can avoid having to evaluate the effects of each contract modification from contract inception through the beginning of the earliest period presented when accounting for contracts that were modified prior to adoption under both the full and modified retrospective transition approach.

In December 2016, technical corrections and improvements were issued on a variety of topics within the new revenue recognition standard. The corrections represent minor corrections or improvements and are not expected to have a significant impact on accounting practices. The amendments clarify the following: guarantee fees within the scope of Topic 460 are not within the scope of Topic 606, impairment testing for capitalized contract costs should consider both expected contract renewals and extensions and unrecognized consideration already received along with expected future consideration, the sequence of impairment testing for assets within the scope of different Topics, allowance of an accounting policy election to determine the provision for losses at the performance obligation level instead of the contract level, exclude all topics within Topic 944 from the scope of Topic 606, allow exemptions from the disclosures of remaining performance obligations, disclosure of prior-period performance obligations pertains to all performance obligations and is not limited to those with corresponding contract balances, and better aligns accounting guidance and examples within the guidance.

The guidance will be effective for Ball on January 1, 2018, and will supersede the current revenue recognition guidance, including industry-specific guidance. While early adoption is permitted, entities are not permitted to adopt the standard earlier than the original effective date of January 1, 2017.  Entities have the option of using either a full retrospective or modified retrospective approach for the adoption of the standard.   We currently anticipate adopting the standard on January 1, 2018, using the modified retrospective method.

We established a cross-functional implementation team, which includes representatives from all of our business segments. We utilized a bottoms-up approach to analyze the impact of the new standard on our contracts with customers by reviewing our current accounting policies and practices to identify potential differences that would result from applying the requirements of the new standard to revenues arising from such contracts. In addition, we are in the process of identifying the appropriate changes to our business processes, systems and controls to support recognition and disclosure under the standard upon adoption.

 

While we are continuing to assess all potential impacts of the new standard, we currently believe the most significant impact will be in the way we account for revenue in our metal beverage packaging segments, and to a lesser extent in our food and aerosol packaging segment. We currently recognize revenue from many of our contracts in these segments when the four established criteria of revenue recognition under the current guidance have been met, generally occurring upon shipment or delivery of goods. Under the new standard we expect we will be required to recognize revenue from many of these contracts over time, which will accelerate the timing of revenue recognition from these arrangements, such that some portion of revenue will be recognized prior to shipment or delivery of goods. In addition to accelerating the timing of recording revenue, we expect corresponding decreases in inventories with an offsetting increase to unbilled receivables to the extent the amounts have not yet been invoiced to the customer. 

 

Relative to the aerospace segment, at this time we do not expect the implementation of the new standard to materially impact the manner in which we currently recognize revenue in this segment as the standard supports the recognition of revenue over time under the “cost-to-cost” method, which is consistent with the current revenue recognition model utilized for the majority of our contracts in this segment. We expect revenue arising from the majority of our contracts to continue to be recognized over time because of the continuous transfer of control to the customer. However due to the complexity of most of our aerospace contracts, the actual revenue recognition treatment required under the new standard will be dependent on contract-specific terms, and may vary in some instances from recognition over time.

 

Finally, we are still evaluating performance obligations under the new standard as compared with deliverables and separate units of account previously identified. The results of this evaluation may impact the timing of revenue recognition across all of our business segments. 

 

We are complete with our initial impact assessment, which is based on a review of sample contracts representative of the range of our existing contracts. During 2017, Ball will continue to finalize the initial impact assessment and design and implement changes to processes, systems and internal controls to be in a position to report under the new accounting standard upon adoption in the first quarter of 2018.