The consolidated financial statements of Piedmont are prepared in accordance with U.S. generally accepted accounting principles (“GAAP”) and include the accounts of Piedmont, Piedmont’s wholly-owned subsidiaries, any variable interest entity ("VIE") of which Piedmont or any of its wholly-owned subsidiaries is considered to have the power to direct the activities of the entity and the obligation to absorb losses/right to receive benefits, or any entity in which Piedmont or any of its wholly-owned subsidiaries owns a controlling interest. In determining whether Piedmont or Piedmont OP has a controlling interest, the following factors, among others, are considered: equity ownership, voting rights, protective rights of investors, and participatory rights of investors.

Piedmont owns a majority interest in four properties through three joint ventures. Two of these joint ventures, 1201 and 1225 Eye Street, NW Associates, own the 1201 and 1225 Eye Street buildings, respectively, in Washington, D.C. The other joint venture, Piedmont-CNL Towers Orlando, LLC, owns CNL Center I and II, in Orlando, Florida. All three joint venture investments are consolidated under the voting model. Accordingly, Piedmont’s consolidated financial statements include the accounts of 1201 Eye Street, NW Associates, LLC, 1225 Eye Street, NW Associates, LLC, and Piedmont-CNL Towers Orlando, LLC.

Further, Piedmont has formed special purpose entities to acquire and hold real estate. Each special purpose entity is a separate legal entity and consequently the assets of the special purpose entities are not available to all creditors of Piedmont. The assets owned by these special purpose entities are being reported on a consolidated basis with Piedmont’s assets for financial reporting purposes only.

The preparation of the accompanying consolidated financial statements in conformity with GAAP requires management to make estimates and assumptions that affect the amounts reported in the accompanying consolidated financial statements and notes. The most significant of these estimates include the underlying cash flows and holding periods used in assessing impairment, judgements regarding the recoverability of goodwill, and the assessment of the collectibility of receivables. Future impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on Piedmont and its tenants may affect these and other estimates used in the preparation of these financial statements. While Piedmont has made, what it believes to be, appropriate accounting estimates based on the facts and circumstances available as of the reporting date, actual results could materially differ from those estimates.

Piedmont classifies its real estate assets as long-lived assets held for use or as long-lived assets held for sale. Held for use assets are stated at cost, as adjusted for any impairment loss, less accumulated depreciation. Held for sale assets are carried at lower of depreciated cost or estimated fair value, less estimated costs to sell. Piedmont generally reclassifies assets as held for sale once a sales contract has been executed and earnest money has become non-refundable.

Amounts capitalized to real estate assets consist of the cost of acquisition or construction, any tenant improvements or major improvements, betterments that extend the useful life of the related asset, and transaction costs associated with the acquisition of an individual asset that does not qualify as a business combination. All repairs and maintenance are expensed as incurred. Additionally, Piedmont capitalizes interest while the development, or redevelopment, of a real estate asset is in progress.

Piedmont continually monitors events and changes in circumstances that could indicate that the carrying amounts of the real estate and related intangible assets of either operating properties or properties under construction in which Piedmont has an ownership interest, either directly or through investments in joint ventures, may not be recoverable. When indicators of potential impairment are present, management assesses whether the respective carrying values will be recovered from the undiscounted future operating cash flows expected from the use of the asset and its eventual disposition for assets held for use, or from the estimated fair values, less costs to sell, for assets held for sale. In the event that the expected undiscounted future cash flows for assets held for use or the estimated fair value, less costs to sell, for assets held for sale do not exceed the respective asset carrying value, management adjusts such assets to the respective estimated fair values and recognizes an impairment loss. Estimated fair values are calculated based on the following information, depending upon availability, in order of preference: (i) recently quoted market prices, (ii) market prices for comparable properties, or (iii) the present value of undiscounted cash flows, including estimated sales value (which is based on key assumptions such as estimated market rents, lease-up periods, estimated lease terms, and capitalization and discount rates) less estimated selling costs.

Upon the acquisition of real properties, Piedmont records the fair value of properties (plus any related acquisition costs) allocated based on relative fair value as tangible assets, consisting of land and building, and identified intangible assets and liabilities, consisting of the value of above-market and below-market leases and the value of in-place leases, based on their estimated fair values. Substantially all of Piedmont's property acquisitions qualify as asset acquisitions under Accounting Standards Codification ("ASC") 805, Business Combinations.

The estimated fair values of the tangible assets of an acquired property are determined by valuing the property as if it were vacant, and the “as-if-vacant” value is then allocated to land and building based on management’s determination of the estimated fair value of these assets. Management relies on a sales comparison approach using closed land sales and listings in determining the land value, and determines the as-if-vacant estimated fair value of a property using methods similar to those used by independent appraisers. Factors considered by management in performing these analyses include an estimate of carrying costs during the expected lease-up periods considering current market conditions and costs to execute similar leases. In

The estimated fair values of above-market and below-market in-place leases are recorded based on the present value (using an interest rate which reflects the risks associated with the leases acquired) of the difference between (i) the contractual amounts to be paid pursuant to the in-place leases and (ii) management’s estimate of market rates for the corresponding in-place leases, measured over a period equal to the remaining terms of the leases, taking into consideration the probability of renewals for any below-market leases. The capitalized above-market and below-market lease values are recorded as intangible lease assets or liabilities and amortized as an adjustment to rental revenues over the remaining terms of the respective leases.

The estimated fair values of in-place leases include an estimate of the direct costs associated with obtaining the acquired or "in place" tenant, estimates of opportunity costs associated with lost rentals that are avoided by acquiring an in-place lease. The amount capitalized as direct costs associated with obtaining a tenant include commissions, tenant improvements, and other direct costs and are estimated based on management’s consideration of current market costs to execute a similar lease. These direct lease origination costs are included in deferred lease costs in the accompanying consolidated balance sheets and are amortized to expense over the remaining terms of the respective leases. The value of opportunity costs is calculated using the contractual amounts to be paid pursuant to the in-place leases over a market absorption period for a similar lease. These lease intangibles are included in intangible lease assets in the accompanying consolidated balance sheets and are amortized to expense over the remaining terms of the respective leases.


	Intangible Lease Assets
	Above-Market In-place Lease Assets		In-Place Lease Valuation		Intangible Lease Origination Costs (1)		Below-Market In-place Lease Liabilities
For the year ending December 31:
2021	$	420	$	27,520	$	38,659	$	10,899
2022	300		20,662		30,447		8,422
2023	103		13,922		21,019		5,139
2024	70		9,140		14,462		3,238
2025	6		5,657		10,069		2,072
Thereafter	18		12,776		24,881		5,670
	$	917	$	89,677	$	139,537	$	35,440

Weighted-Average Amortization Period (in years)	3		5		5		5

Piedmont considers all highly-liquid investments purchased with an original maturity of three months or less to be cash equivalents. Cash equivalents include cash and short-term investments. The majority of Piedmont’s cash and cash equivalents are held at major commercial banks and at times may exceed the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation limit of $250,000. Short-term investments consist of investments in money market accounts stated at cost, which approximates estimated fair value, and available-for-sale securities resulting from Piedmont's non-qualified deferred compensation program carried at estimated fair value.

Tenant receivables are comprised of rental and reimbursement billings due from tenants, and straight-line rent receivables representing the cumulative amount of future adjustments necessary to present rental income on a straight-line basis. Effective January 1, 2019, Piedmont adopted ASC 842 Leases ("ASC 842"), as well as Accounting Standards Update ("ASU"), ASU No. 2018-19 Codification Improvements to Topic 326, Financial Instruments—Credit Losses ("ASU 2018-19") which clarifies that operating lease receivables are within the scope of ASC 842; therefore, Piedmont has elected to evaluate the collectibility of its operating lease receivables on a tenant/lease-specific basis and, as of January 1, 2019, began recognizing changes in the collectibility assessment of its operating lease receivables as a reduction of rental and tenant reimbursement revenue, rather than as bad debt expense, a component of property operating costs. Prior to the adoption of ASC 842, during the year ended December 31, 2018, Piedmont recognized approximately $91,000 of expense related to uncollectible operating lease receivables as additional property operating costs. See further discussion of collectibility assessments of tenant receivables and other lease-related assets due to COVID-19 pandemic during 2020 in Note 8 and in Allowance for Doubtful Accounts below.

As detailed above, Piedmont records contra-revenue adjustments for tenant/lease-specific changes in the collectibility assessments of its operating lease receivables as a reduction of rental and tenant reimbursement revenues in accordance with ASC 842. These charges reduce tenant and straight-line rent receivable to net realizable value upon recognition. However, during the year ended December 31, 2020, Piedmont also established a general reserve, with charges related to the establishment of this reserve recorded as a reduction of rental and tenant reimbursement revenues, and the balance of the reserve is disclosed as allowance for doubtful accounts in the accompanying consolidated balance sheets. Unlike tenant-specific adjustments recorded in accordance with ASC 842, the general reserve is for amounts that may become uncollectible in the future.

Goodwill is the excess of cost of an acquired entity over the amounts specifically assigned to assets acquired and liabilities assumed in purchase accounting for business combinations. In conjunction with Piedmont's change in segment reporting (see Note 17), Piedmont has reallocated its goodwill to each of its seven reporting units on the basis of relative fair value of each reporting unit compared to the total of all reporting units. Piedmont tests the carrying value of the goodwill assigned to each of its seven reporting units for impairment on an annual basis, or on an interim basis if an event occurs or circumstances change that would indicate that a material indicator of impairment exists. Such interim circumstances may include, but are not limited to, significant adverse changes in legal factors or in the general business climate, adverse action or assessment by a regulator, unanticipated competition, the loss of key personnel, or persistent declines in an entity’s stock price below carrying value of the entity. Piedmont first assesses qualitative factors to determine whether the existence of events or circumstances leads to a determination that a material indicator of impairment exists. If Piedmont concludes, after assessing the totality of events and circumstances during the qualitative analysis, that a material indicator does exist and that it is more likely than not that the goodwill balance in one or more reporting units is impaired, then Piedmont will recognize a goodwill impairment loss equal to the excess of the reporting unit’s carrying amount over its estimated fair value (not to exceed the total goodwill allocated to that reporting unit). There were no changes in the carrying amount of Piedmont's goodwill during the year ended December 31, 2020.

Piedmont periodically enters into interest rate derivative agreements to hedge its exposure to changing interest rates. As of December 31, 2020 and 2019, all of Piedmont's interest rate derivatives were designated as effective cash flow hedges and carried on the balance sheet at estimated fair value. Piedmont reassesses the effectiveness of its derivatives designated as cash flow hedges on a regular basis to determine if they continue to be highly effective and if the forecasted transactions remain highly probable. Piedmont does not use derivatives for trading or speculative purposes.

The changes in estimated fair value of interest rate swap agreements designated as effective cash flow hedges are recorded in other comprehensive income (“OCI”), and subsequently reclassified to earnings when the hedged transactions occur. The estimated fair value of the interest rate derivative agreement is recorded as interest rate derivative asset or as interest rate derivative liability in the accompanying consolidated balance sheets. Amounts received or paid under interest rate derivative agreements are recorded as reductions or additions to interest expense in the consolidated statements of income as incurred. Additionally, when Piedmont settles forward starting swap agreements, any gain or loss is recorded as accumulated other comprehensive income and is amortized to interest expense over the term of the respective notes on a straight line basis (which approximates the effective interest method). Further, Piedmont classifies cash flows from the settlement of hedging derivative instruments in the same category as the underlying exposure which is being hedged. Settlements resulting from the hedge of

Deferred lease costs are comprised of costs and incentives incurred to acquire operating leases. In addition to direct costs, deferred lease costs also include intangible lease origination costs related to in-place leases acquired as part of a property acquisition. Prior to the adoption of ASC 842, Piedmont capitalized direct payroll costs incurred related to negotiating and executing specific leases of approximately $0.3 million for the year ended December 31, 2018. ASC 842 prohibited the capitalization of such costs beginning January 1, 2019.

Upon receipt of a lease termination notice, Piedmont adjusts the amortization of any unamortized deferred lease costs to be recognized ratably over the revised remaining term of the lease after giving effect to the termination notice. If there is no remaining lease term and no other obligation to provide the tenant space in the property, then any unamortized tenant-specific costs are recognized immediately upon termination.

When mortgage debt is assumed upon the acquisition of real property, Piedmont adjusts the loan to relative fair value with a corresponding adjustment to building and other intangible assets assumed as part of the purchase. The fair value adjustment is amortized to interest expense over the term of the loan using the effective interest method. Amortization of such fair value adjustments was approximately $0.5 million for each of the years ended December 31, 2020, 2019, and 2018, respectively.

Piedmont records premiums and discounts on debt issuances as an increase/decrease to the principal amount of the loan in the accompanying consolidated balance sheets, and amortizes such premiums or discounts as a component of interest expense over the life of the underlying loan facility using the effective interest method. Piedmont recorded discount amortization of approximately $0.3 million, $0.2 million and $0.2 million for the years ended December 31, 2020, 2019, and 2018, respectively.

Piedmont presents all debt issuance costs as an offset to the principal amount of debt in the accompanying consolidated balance sheets. Piedmont amortizes these costs to interest expense on a straight-line basis (which approximates the effective interest rate method) over the terms of the related financing arrangements. Piedmont recognized amortization of such costs for the years ended December 31, 2020, 2019, and 2018 of approximately $3.0 million, $2.4 million, and $2.4 million, respectively.

Deferred income related to prepaid rents from tenants will be recognized as income in the period it is earned. Amounts related to operating expense reconciliations or property tax expense are relieved when the tenant's reconciliation is completed in accordance with the underlying lease, and payment is issued to the tenant. Tenant improvement allowance overages paid by the tenant, where Piedmont owns all of the underlying improvements, are recorded as deferred income and amortized on a straight-line basis into rental and tenant reimbursement revenue over the term of the respective leases.

To date, Piedmont has not issued any shares-in-trust; however, under Piedmont’s charter, it has authority to issue a total of 150,000,000 shares-in-trust, which would be issued only in the event that there is a purported transfer of, or other change in or affecting the ownership of, Piedmont’s capital stock that would result in a violation of the ownership limits that are included in Piedmont’s charter to protect its REIT status.

To date, Piedmont has not issued any shares of preferred stock; however, Piedmont is authorized to issue up to 100,000,000 shares of one or more classes or series of preferred stock. Piedmont’s board of directors may determine the relative rights, preferences, and privileges of any class or series of preferred stock that may be issued, and can be more beneficial than the rights, preferences, and privileges attributable to Piedmont’s common stock.

Under Piedmont’s charter, it has authority to issue a total of 750,000,000 shares of common stock with a par value of $0.01 per share. Each share of common stock is entitled to one vote and participates in distributions equally. In February 2020, the board of directors re-authorized the stock repurchase program for up to $200 million in share repurchases under which Piedmont may repurchase its own shares from time to time, in accordance with applicable securities laws, in the open market or in privately negotiated transactions. The timing of repurchases is dependent upon market conditions and other factors, and repurchases may be commenced or suspended from time to time in Piedmont's discretion, without prior notice. As of December 31, 2020, Piedmont had approximately $169.3 million of remaining capacity under the program which may be used for share repurchases through February 2022.

Under Piedmont's at-the-market stock offering program ("ATM program"), Piedmont may offer and sell shares of its common stock from time to time in “at-the-market” offerings with an aggregate gross sales price of up to $250 million. In connection with the ATM Program, Piedmont may, at its discretion, enter into forward equity sale agreements. The use of a forward equity sale agreement would allow Piedmont to lock in a share price on the sale of shares of its common stock at the time the agreement is executed, but defer receiving the proceeds from the sale of shares until a later date, allowing Piedmont to better align such funding with its capital needs. Sales of shares of Piedmont’s common stock through its banking relationships, if any, will be made in amounts and at times to be determined by Piedmont from time to time, but Piedmont has no obligation to sell any of the shares in the offering and may suspend sales in connection with the offering at any time. Sales of Piedmont's common stock under forward equity sale agreements, if undertaken, meet the derivatives and hedging guidance scope exception to be accounted for as equity instruments based on the following assessments: (i) none of the agreements’ exercise contingencies were based on observable markets or indices besides those related to the market for Piedmont's own stock price and operations; and (ii) none of the settlement provisions precluded the agreements from being indexed to Piedmont's own stock.

As a REIT, Piedmont is required by the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended (the “Code”), to make distributions to stockholders each taxable year equal to at least 90% of its annual taxable income, computed without regard to the dividends-paid deduction and by excluding net capital gains attributable to stockholders (“REIT taxable income”). Historically, Piedmont sponsored a dividend reinvestment plan ("DRP") pursuant to which common stockholders could elect (if their brokerage agreements allowed) to reinvest an amount equal to the dividends declared on their common shares into additional shares of Piedmont’s common stock in lieu of receiving cash dividends. During the year ended December 31, 2020, the board of directors terminated the company-funded DRP offered through its transfer agent.

Noncontrolling interest is the equity interest of consolidated entities that is not owned by Piedmont. Noncontrolling interest is adjusted for the noncontrolling partners' share of contributions, distributions, and earnings (losses) in accordance with the respective partnership agreement. Earnings allocated to such noncontrolling partners are recorded as income applicable to noncontrolling interest in the accompanying consolidated statements of income.

Rental and tenant reimbursement income - consists of revenue from leases with Piedmont's tenants, as well as reimbursements for services prescribed by such leases. Piedmont evaluates contracts at commencement to determine if the contract contains a lease. If a contract is determined to contain a lease, the lease is evaluated to determine whether it is an operating, sales-type, or a direct financing lease. All of Piedmont's leases where Piedmont is the lessor are for the lessee's use of space in Piedmont's commercial office properties and are classified as operating leases.

In most lease arrangements, Piedmont finances improvements to leased space and is deemed the owner of the tenant improvements. The determination of who owns the improvements, whether payments to tenants constitute lease incentives or tenant improvements, and the timing of revenue recognition requires the exercise of significant judgment based on the facts and circumstances of the specific lease arrangement and is not based on any one factor. When evaluating whether Piedmont or its tenant owns the improvements, management considers a number of factors, including, among other things:

The timing of rental revenue recognition is largely dependent on our conclusion as to whether Piedmont, or its tenant, is the owner of tenant improvements at the leased property. When Piedmont owns the tenant improvements, rental revenue recognition begins when the tenant takes possession of or controls the finished space, which is typically when the improvements being recorded as Piedmont's asset are substantially complete. In some instances, Piedmont may cede control of the leased space to the tenant to be responsible for tenant-owned improvements for the space. In such arrangements, payments made by Piedmont to its tenant are treated as lease incentives, amortized as a reduction to rental and tenant reimbursement revenue over the lease term, which typically begins once the tenant takes possession of the unimproved space.

Lease payments are typically comprised of both fixed base rental payments and separately billed variable lease payments for reimbursement of services performed by Piedmont for the tenant as prescribed by the lease. Fixed base rental payments, as well as any fixed portion of reimbursement income, are recognized on a straight-line basis over the lease term. Tenant reimbursements are recognized as revenue in the period that the related operating cost is incurred. Rents and tenant reimbursements collected in advance are recorded as deferred income in the accompanying consolidated balance sheets.

Property management fee revenue - consists of revenue earned by Piedmont related to operating and managing office properties owned by other third-parties. Such income is within the scope of ASC 606, Revenue from Contracts with Customers ("ASC 606"). Because property management services represent a performance obligation that are satisfied over the length of the contract, not at any specific point in time, and have the same measure of transfer (time elapsed), property management fee revenue is recognized over time. Any variable consideration transferred as part of these management agreements is recognized in the quarter that the underlying cash receipts are collected, consistent with the allocation objective of allocating the transaction price in an amount that depicts the amount of consideration to which Piedmont expects to be entitled in exchange for transferring the promised service to the customer.

Other property related income - consists of all other property related income from Piedmont's customers (tenants) that is not derived from a contract meeting the definition of a lease and is therefore also within the scope of ASC 606. Examples of such income include parking revenue and income from licenses with unrelated third-parties to place antennae and/or fiber optic cables in or on Piedmont's buildings. These services also represent a performance obligation that is satisfied over the length of

Gains on the sale of real estate assets, like all non-lease related revenue, are subject to a five-step model requiring that Piedmont identify the contract with the customer, identify the performance obligations in the contract, determine the transaction price, allocate the transaction price to the performance obligations in the contract, and recognize revenue upon satisfaction of the performance obligations. In circumstances where Piedmont contracts to sell a property with material post-sale involvement, such involvement must be accounted for as a separate performance obligation in the contract and a portion of the sales price allocated to each performance obligation. When the post-sale involvement performance obligation is satisfied, the portion of the sales price allocated to it will be recognized as gain on sale of real estate assets. Property dispositions with no continuing involvement will continue to be recognized upon closing of the sale. In circumstances where Piedmont extends seller financing as part of a sale of real estate assets, Piedmont assesses the collectibility of the notes receivable as of each reporting period end. Notes receivable that are deemed to be uncollectible or fully in default are reduced to their net realizable value, which approximates their fair value.

Piedmont has issued stock-based compensation in the form of restricted stock to its employees and directors. For employees, such compensation has been issued pursuant to Piedmont's Long-term Incentive Compensation ("LTIC") program. The LTIC program is comprised of an annual restricted stock grant component (the "Restricted Stock Award" program) and a multi-year performance share component (the "Performance Share" program). Awards granted pursuant to the Restricted Stock Award and Performance Share programs, as well as director's awards, are classified as equity awards or liability awards based on the underlying terms of the program agreement. Awards classified as equity awards are expensed straight-line over the vesting period, with issuances recorded as a reduction to additional paid in capital. Forfeitures are recorded when they occur. Awards classified as liability awards are remeasured at each reporting period over the service period, with issuances recorded as a reduction to accrued expense. The compensation expense recognized related to both of these award types is recorded as property operating costs for those employees whose job is related to property operations and as general and administrative expense for all other employees and directors in the accompanying consolidated statements of income.

Piedmont previously offered a non-qualified deferred compensation plan ("NQDC Plan") to certain employees which allowed the employee to elect to defer receipt of compensation, including both cash and stock-based compensation, until future taxable years. As of December 31, 2019, Piedmont suspended the NQDC Plan so that no additional amounts may be deferred. Amounts deferred prior to the suspension of the NQDC Plan are invested in trading securities held in a "rabbi trust" and are measured using quoted market prices as of the reporting date, with changes in fair value recognized in net income. As of December 31, 2020 and 2019, Piedmont held approximately $0.8 million and $0.6 million, respectively, of these trading securities. Such investments are included in cash equivalents due to their short-term, liquid nature, with the corresponding liability included in accounts payable, accrued expenses, and accrued capital expenditures in the accompanying consolidated balance sheets.

Net income per share-basic is calculated as net income available to common stockholders divided by the weighted average number of common shares outstanding during the period. Net income per share-diluted is calculated as net income available to common stockholders divided by the diluted weighted average number of common shares outstanding during the period, including the dilutive effect of nonvested restricted stock. The dilutive effect of nonvested restricted stock is calculated using the treasury stock method to determine the number of additional common shares that would become outstanding if the remaining unvested restricted stock awards vested. Further, Piedmont has elected to use the "end of the reporting period" convention when using the treasury stock method to calculate the dilutive effect of any shares issued pursuant to forward equity sale agreements in connection with Piedmont's ATM Program described above. Under this methodology, the assumed sale proceeds are calculated using the closing price of Piedmont's stock as of the end of the respective reporting period.

Piedmont has elected to be taxed as a REIT under the Code, and has operated as such, beginning with its taxable year ended December 31, 1998. To qualify as a REIT, Piedmont must meet certain organizational and operational requirements, including a requirement to distribute at least 90% of its annual REIT taxable income. As a REIT, Piedmont is generally not subject to federal income taxes, subject to fulfilling, among other things, its taxable income distribution requirement. However, Piedmont is subject to federal income taxes related to the operations conducted by its taxable REIT subsidiary, POH, which have been provided for in the financial statements. Accordingly, the only provision for federal income taxes in the accompanying consolidated financial statements relates to POH. POH does not have significant tax provisions or deferred income tax items. These operations resulted in approximately $4,000, $160,000, and $(97,000) in income tax expense/(recoveries) for the years ended December 31, 2020, 2019, and 2018, respectively, as a component of other income/(expense) in the accompanying consolidated statements of income. Further, Piedmont is subject to certain state and local taxes related to the operations of properties in certain locations, which have been provided for in general and administrative expenses in the accompanying consolidated financial statements.

Accounting Standards Update No. 2020-04, Reference Rate Reform (Topic 848) ("ASU 2020-04"), was issued in March 2020. ASU 2020-04 contains practical expedients for reference rate reform related activities that impact debt, leases, derivatives and other contracts. The guidance in ASU 2020-04 is optional and may be elected over time as reference rate reform activities occur. During the year ended December 31, 2020, Piedmont elected to apply the hedge accounting expedients related to probability and the assessments of effectiveness for future LIBOR-indexed cash flows to assume that the index upon which future hedged transactions will be based matches the index on the corresponding derivatives. Application of these expedients preserves the presentation of derivatives consistent with past presentation. Piedmont continues to evaluate the impact of the guidance and may apply other elections as applicable as additional changes in the market occur.

On January 1, 2020, Piedmont adopted ASU No. 2016-13, Financial Instruments—Credit Losses (Topic 326), Measurement of Credit Losses on Financial Instruments, as well as ASU No. 2019-04, Codification Improvements to Topic 326, Financial Instruments - Credit Losses, Topic 815, Derivatives and Hedging, and Topic 825, Financial Instruments, and ASU No. 2019-05, Financial Instruments- Credit Losses: Targeted Transition Relief (collectively the "Credit Loss Amendments"). The provisions of the Credit Loss Amendments replace the "incurred loss" approach with an "expected loss" model for impairing trade and other receivables, held-to-maturity debt securities, net investment in leases, and off-balance-sheet credit exposures, which will generally result in earlier recognition of allowances for credit losses. However, the Financial Accounting Standards Board (the "FASB") also issued ASU No. 2018-19 Codification Improvements to Topic 326, Financial Instruments - Credit Losses, which is effective concurrent with the Credit Loss Amendments, and excludes receivables arising from operating leases from the scope of the Credit Loss Amendments and affirms that such receivables should be evaluated for collectibility as prescribed by ASC 842 Leases. As substantially all of Piedmont's receivables are operating lease receivables there was no

During the year December 31, 2020, the FASB issued a Staff Q&A on Topic 842 and Topic 840 (lease accounting guidance): Accounting for lease concessions related to the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. Generally, changes to payment terms not contemplated by the lease contract should be accounted for under Topic 842 as a lease modification. The FASB staff has provided relief from this modification guidance through an accounting policy election, provided that changes to the payment terms do not result in a substantial increase in the rights of either the lessee or the lessor under the lease. Piedmont has elected not to apply the relief provided by the FASB Staff, and has instead accounted for all rent relief agreements as result of COVID-19 as lease modifications. See further details concerning rent relief agreements with Piedmont's tenants in Note 8 below.