Financial Statement Presentation

3 Months Ended

Mar. 21, 2015

Organization, Consolidation and Presentation of Financial Statements [Abstract]

Financial Statement Presentation

Financial Statement Presentation

We have prepared our accompanying unaudited Condensed Consolidated Financial Statements (“Financial Statements”) in accordance with the rules and regulations of the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) for interim financial information.  Accordingly, they do not include all of the information and footnotes required by Generally Accepted Accounting Principles in the United States (“GAAP”) for complete financial statements.  Therefore, we suggest that the accompanying Financial Statements be read in conjunction with the Consolidated Financial Statements included in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 27, 2014 (“2014 Form 10-K”).  

YUM! Brands, Inc. and Subsidiaries (collectively referred to herein as “YUM” or the “Company”) comprise primarily the worldwide operations of KFC, Pizza Hut and Taco Bell (collectively the “Concepts”).  References to YUM throughout these Notes to our Financial Statements are made using the first person notations of “we,” “us” or “our.”

YUM consists of five reporting segments:  

• YUM China (“China” or “China Division”) which includes all operations in mainland China

• YUM India ("India" or "India Division") which includes all operations in India, Bangladesh, Nepal and Sri Lanka

• The KFC Division which includes all operations of the KFC concept outside of China Division and India Division

• The Pizza Hut Division which includes all operations of the Pizza Hut concept outside of China Division and India Division

• The Taco Bell Division which includes all operations of the Taco Bell concept outside of India Division

YUM’s fiscal year ends on the last Saturday in December.  The first three quarters of each fiscal year consist of 12 weeks and the fourth quarter consists of 16 weeks. Our subsidiaries operate on similar fiscal calendars except that China, India and certain other international subsidiaries operate on a monthly calendar with two months in the first quarter, three months in the second and third quarters and four months in the fourth quarter.  International businesses within our KFC, Pizza Hut and Taco Bell divisions close approximately one month earlier to facilitate consolidated reporting.

Our preparation of the accompanying Financial Statements in conformity with GAAP requires us to make estimates and assumptions that affect reported amounts of assets and liabilities, disclosure of contingent assets and liabilities at the date of the Financial Statements, and the reported amounts of revenues and expenses during the reporting period.  Actual results could differ from these estimates.

The accompanying Financial Statements include all normal and recurring adjustments considered necessary to present fairly, when read in conjunction with our 2014 Form 10-K, our financial position as of March 21, 2015, and the results of our operations, comprehensive income and cash flows for the quarters ended March 21, 2015 and March 22, 2014. Our results of operations, comprehensive income and cash flows for these interim periods are not necessarily indicative of the results to be expected for the full year.

Our significant interim accounting policies include the recognition of certain advertising and marketing costs, generally in proportion to revenue, and the recognition of income taxes using an estimated annual effective tax rate.

We have reclassified certain items in the Financial Statements for the prior periods to be comparable with the classification for the quarter ended March 21, 2015. These reclassifications had no effect on previously reported Net Income - YUM! Brands, Inc.