New Accounting Guidance (Notes)

9 Months Ended

Sep. 30, 2016

New Accounting Pronouncements and Changes in Accounting Principles [Abstract]

New Accounting Pronouncements and Changes in Accounting Principles [Text Block]

New Accounting Guidance

In August 2016, the Financial Accounting Standards Board ("FASB") issued guidance to simplify elements of cash flow classification. The guidance is intended to reduce diversity in practice in how certain transactions are classified in the statement of cash flows. The new guidance requires cash payments for debt prepayment or debt extinguishment costs to be classified as cash outflows for financing activities. It also requires cash payments made soon after an acquisition's consummation date (approximately three months or less) to be classified as cash outflows for investing activities. Payments made thereafter should be classified as cash outflows for financing activities up to the amount of the original contingent consideration liability. Payments made in excess of the amount of the original contingent consideration liability should be classified as cash outflows for operating activities. The guidance is required to be applied by the Company in the first quarter of 2018, but early adoption is permitted. The Company is currently evaluating the impact of this standard on its consolidated financial statements.

In March 2016, the FASB issued guidance that will change certain aspects of accounting for share-based payments to employees. The new guidance will require all income tax effects of awards to be recognized in the income statement when the awards vest or are settled and recognized in the statement of cash flows as operating cash flows. The guidance will also allow employee tax withholdings above the minimum statutory requirement without triggering liability accounting. Finally, the Company will be able to make a policy election to account for forfeitures as they occur. The guidance is required to be applied by the Company in the first quarter of 2017, but early adoption is permitted.

If this guidance was adopted in the first quarter of 2016, diluted earnings per share in the first quarter would have increased by $0.04 from $0.59 to $0.63 due to a reduction in income tax expense. The impact to operating cash flow in the first quarter of 2016 would have been an increase of $4.2 million with a corresponding decrease in financing cash flows. Stock awards typically vest in the first quarter so the impact is concentrated in the first three months of each year. The impact in future years will be dependent on Bemis stock performance and the number of shares vesting each year.  The impact in 2016 is expected to be more significant than 2017 as approximately one million shares vested in 2016, compared to 0.4 million shares scheduled to vest in 2017.  The Company expects to adopt this guidance in the first quarter of 2017.

In February 2016, the FASB issued guidance that requires lessees to put most leases on their balance sheets but recognize expenses on their income statements in a manner similar to today's accounting. The guidance also eliminates today's real estate-specific provisions and changes the guidance on sale-leaseback transactions, initial direct costs and lease executory costs for all entities. All entities will classify leases to determine how to recognize lease-related revenue and expense. The guidance is required to be applied by the Company in the first quarter of 2019, but early adoption is permitted. The Company is currently evaluating the impact of this standard on its consolidated financial statements.

In September 2015, the FASB issued guidancethat eliminates the current requirement for an acquirer in a business combination to account for measurement-period adjustments retrospectively. Instead, acquirers must recognize measurement-period adjustments during the period in which they determine the amounts, including the effect on earnings of any amounts they would have recorded in previous periods if the accounting had been completed at the acquisition date. The guidance was adopted in the first quarter of 2016 and did not have a material impact on the Company's consolidated financial statements.

In April 2015, the FASB issued guidance on the recognition of fees paid by a customer for cloud computing arrangements. The new guidance clarifies that if a cloud computing arrangement includes a software license, the customer should account for the software license consistent with the acquisition of other software licenses. If the arrangement does not include a software license, the customer should account for the arrangement as a service contract. The guidance was adopted in the first quarter of 2016 and did not have a material impact on the Company's consolidated financial statements.

In May 2014, the FASB issued new guidance which supersedes current revenue recognition requirements.  This guidance is based on the principle that revenue is recognized to depict the transfer of goods or services to customers in an amount that reflects the consideration to which the entity expects to be entitled in exchange for those goods or services.  In July 2015, the FASB voted to defer for one year the effective date of the new revenue standard. The guidance is required to be applied by the Company in the first quarter of fiscal 2018 using one of two retrospective applications methods. The FASB also decided to permit entities to early adopt the standard. The Company is currently evaluating the application methods and the impact of this new statement on its consolidated financial statements.