2. Accounting Pronouncements

Recently Adopted Accounting Standards

In January 2017, amendments to existing accounting 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 it did not have a material impact on the company’s unaudited condensed 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. This guidance was applied on a modified retrospective basis on January 1, 2017, and did not have an effect on the company’s unaudited condensed 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 was applied prospectively on January 1, 2017, and did not have a material effect on the company’s unaudited condensed 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. The company adopted these amendments on January 1, 2017, as discussed below, which did not have a material effect on the company’s unaudited condensed consolidated financial statements.

All excess tax benefits and tax deficiencies that were previously recognized in common stock are now recognized as income tax provisions (benefits) in the income statement as a discrete item. As required, this change was applied prospectively for settlements occurring after the adoption of the guidance on January 1, 2017.

Any prior period excess tax benefits that did not reduce taxes payable in the period in which they arose were required to be recorded on a modified retrospective basis, with a cumulative effect adjustment to opening retained earnings. However, the company was able to reduce taxes payable for all previous excess tax benefits and, therefore, was not required to record a cumulative effect adjustment.

The company has elected to use a prospective approach to report all tax related cash flows resulting from share-based payments as operating activities on the statement of cash flows and, therefore, no adjustments have been made to prior periods. Previously, excess tax benefits were reported as part of financing activities.

The company has elected to account for forfeitures as they occur. No cumulative effect adjustment was required as the amount calculated was immaterial.

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 was applied prospectively on January 1, 2017, and did not have a material effect on the company’s unaudited condensed consolidated financial statements.

New Accounting Guidance

In March 2017, amendments to existing guidance were issued to improve the presentation of net periodic pension cost and net periodic postretirement benefit cost, which requires employers to report the service cost component in the same line item as other compensation costs arising from services rendered by the associated employees during the period. The other components of net periodic pension and benefit cost are required to be presented in the income statement separately from the service cost component and outside a subtotal of income from operations, if one is presented. The amendments also permit only the service cost component of net benefit cost to be eligible for capitalization. This guidance is required to be applied retrospectively for the presentation of the service cost component and the other components of net periodic pension cost and net periodic postretirement benefit cost in the income statement, and prospectively for the capitalization of the service cost component. Employers can elect a practical expedient that permits use of the amounts disclosed in its pension footnote for the prior comparative periods as the estimation basis for applying the retrospective presentation requirements. The guidance is effective for Ball on January 1, 2018, and early adoption is permitted. The company has not elected to early adopt the new standard and is currently assessing the impact this guidance will have on its consolidated financial statements.

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 on January 1, 2018, using a full retrospective approach or a modified retrospective approach 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 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 for Ball on January 1, 2018, and early adoption is permitted. The company does not expect the amendments to have a material impact on its consolidated financial statements and the company has not elected to early adopt this new accounting standard.

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

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 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 and expects a material amount of assets and liabilities to be recorded in the consolidated balance sheet.

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.