5. Impairment and Restructuring Charges

For the three months ended March 31, 2018 and 2017, the Company recorded $3 million and $10 million of pre-tax restructuring charges, respectively. The 2018 charges include $2 million of other costs related to the North America Finance Transformation initiative and $1 million of other restructuring costs related to the leaf extraction process in Brazil, both of which were announced in 2017. The Company expects to incur between $1 million and $2 million of additional other costs for the remainder of 2018 related to the North America Finance Transformation initiative.

For the three months ended March 31, 2017, the Company recorded total pre-tax restructuring-related charges in Argentina of $11 million for employee-related severance and other costs related to an organizational restructuring effort. Additionally, the Company recorded a $1 million reduction in expected employee severance-related charges associated with the execution of global information technology (“IT”) outsourcing contracts.

A summary of the Company’s severance accrual as of March 31, 2018 is as follows (in millions):


Balance in severance accrual as of December 31, 2017	$	11
Payments made to terminated employees		(3)
Balance in severance accrual as of March 31, 2018	$	8

Of the $8 million severance accrual as of March 31, 2018, $7 million is expected to be paid in the next 12 months.