Nature of Operations and Basis of Presentation

GENERAL

Clearwater Paper manufactures quality consumer tissue, away-from-home tissue, parent roll tissue, bleached paperboard and pulp at manufacturing facilities across the nation. The company is a premier supplier of private label tissue to major retailers and wholesale distributors, including grocery, drug, mass merchants and discount stores. In addition, the company produces bleached paperboard used by quality-conscious printers and packaging converters, and offers services that include custom sheeting, slitting and cutting. Clearwater Paper's employees build shareholder value by developing strong customer relationships through quality and service.

In the second half of 2017, we began a review of our selling, general and administrative cost structure as part of our effort to maintain our longer-term competitiveness. As a result of this review, in the fourth quarter of 2017 we began executing on a plan that reduced selling, general and administrative expenses beginning in 2018. For the three months ended March 31, 2018, we incurred $5.1 million of expenses associated with these efforts, which consisted primarily of severance and professional services expenses. We did not incur expenses associated with these efforts in the first quarter of 2019 as the plan implementation was substantially complete in 2018.

FINANCIAL STATEMENT PREPARATION AND PRESENTATION

The accompanying Consolidated Balance Sheets at March 31, 2019 and December 31, 2018, and the related Consolidated Statements of Operations, Comprehensive Income, Cash Flows and Stockholders' Equity for the three months ended March 31, 2019 and 2018, have been prepared in conformity with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America, or GAAP. We believe that all adjustments necessary for a fair presentation of the results of the interim periods presented have been included. The results of operations for any interim period are not necessarily indicative of the results of operations to be expected for the full year.

This Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q should be read in conjunction with our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2018, as filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, or SEC, on March 18, 2019.

SUMMARY OF SIGNIFICANT ACCOUNTING POLICIES

SIGNIFICANT ESTIMATES

The preparation of financial statements in conformity with GAAP requires management to make estimates and assumptions that affect the reported amounts of assets and liabilities, the disclosure of contingent assets and liabilities at the date of the financial statements and the reported amounts of net sales and expenses during the reporting periods. Significant areas that may require the use of estimates and measurement of uncertainty include determination of net realizable value for deferred tax assets, uncertain income tax positions, assessment of impairment of long-lived assets and goodwill, assessment of environmental matters, equity-based compensation and pension and postretirement obligation assumptions. Actual results could differ from those estimates and assumptions.

CASH, CASH EQUIVALENTS, AND RESTRICTED CASH

We consider all highly liquid instruments with maturities of three months or less at date of purchase to be cash equivalents. Cash that is held by a third party and has restrictions on its availability to us is classified as restricted cash. The following table provides a reconciliation of cash, cash equivalents and restricted cash reported on the Consolidated Balance Sheets that sum to the total of those same amounts shown in our Consolidated Statements of Cash Flows.



(In thousands)	March 31, 2019		March 31, 2018
Cash and cash equivalents	$	12,160	$	12,064
Restricted cash	1,440		—
Restricted cash included in other assets, net	1,027		1,007
Total cash, cash equivalents, and restricted cash shown in the Consolidated Statements of Cash Flows	$	14,627	$	13,071

PROPERTY, PLANT AND EQUIPMENT

Property, plant and equipment are stated at cost, including any interest costs capitalized, less accumulated depreciation. Depreciation of buildings, equipment and other depreciable assets is determined using the straight-line method. Assets we acquire through business combinations have estimated lives that are typically shorter than the assets we construct or buy new. Accumulated depreciation totaled $1,715.2 million and $1,691.7 million at March 31, 2019 and December 31, 2018, respectively.

For the three months ended March 31, 2019, we capitalized $3.2 million of interest expense associated with the construction of a paper machine at our Shelby, North Carolina consumer products facility and $0.2 million of interest expense associated with the construction of a continuous pulp digester at our Lewiston, Idaho pulp and paperboard facility. For the three months ended March 31, 2018, we capitalized $1.0 million of interest expense associated with the Shelby paper machine and $0.3 million of interest expense associated with the continuous pulp digester project.

We review the carrying amount of long-lived assets with definite lives that are held-for-use and evaluate them for recoverability whenever events or changes in circumstances indicate that we may be unable to recover the carrying amount of the assets.

LEASES

All significant lease arrangements are generally recognized at lease commencement. Operating lease right-of-use, or ROU, assets and lease liabilities are recognized at commencement. An ROU asset and corresponding lease liability are not recorded for leases with an initial term of 12 months or less (short term leases) and we recognize lease expense for these leases as incurred over the lease term.

ROU assets represent our right to use an underlying asset during the reasonably certain lease term and lease liabilities represent our obligation to make lease payments arising from the lease. Our lease terms may include options to extend or terminate the lease when it is reasonably certain that we will exercise that option. Operating lease ROU assets and liabilities are recognized at commencement date based on the present value of lease payments over the lease term. We primarily use our incremental borrowing rate, which is updated quarterly, based on the information available at commencement date, in determining the present value of lease payments. The operating lease ROU asset also includes any lease payments related to initial direct cost and prepayments and excludes lease incentives. Refer to Note 4, "Leases," for additional information.

REVENUE RECOGNITION

We enter into contracts that can include various combinations of tissue and paperboard products, which are generally distinct and accounted for as separate performance obligations.

Revenue is recognized at a point in time upon transfer of control of promised products or services to customers in an amount that reflects the consideration we expect to receive in exchange for those products or services. Transfer of control typically occurs when the title and risk of loss passes to the customer. Shipping terms generally indicate when title and the risk of loss have passed. Revenue is recognized at shipment for sales when shipping terms are free on board, or FOB, shipping point. For sales where shipping terms are FOB destination, revenue is recognized when the goods are received by the customer. Revenue from both domestic and foreign sales of our products can involve shipping terms of either FOB shipping point or FOB destination or other shipping terms, depending upon the sales agreement with the customer. We have elected to treat shipping and handling costs for FOB shipping point contracts as a fulfillment cost, not as a separate performance obligation. No revenue is recognized over time. We typically expense incremental direct costs of obtaining a contract (sales commissions) when incurred because the amortization period is generally 12 months or less. We have also elected to use the practical expedient to not disclose unsatisfied or partially satisfied performance obligations as we have no unsatisfied contracts where the remaining portions are expected to be satisfied in a period greater than one year.

We provide for trade promotions, customer cash discounts, customer returns and other deductions as reductions to net sales, which are accounted for as variable consideration when estimating the amount of revenue to recognize. Returns and credits are estimated at contract inception and updated at the end of each reporting period as additional information becomes available. Revenue net of returns and credits is only recognized to the extent that it is probable that a significant reversal of any incremental revenue will not occur. Significant judgment is required to determine the most probable amount of variable consideration to apply as a reduction to net sales. Revenue is recognized net of any taxes collected from customers, which are subsequently remitted to governmental authorities.

Payment terms and conditions vary by contract. Terms generally include a requirement of payment within 30 days, and do not include a significant financing component.

Trade accounts receivable are stated at the amount we expect to collect. Trade accounts receivable do not bear interest. The allowance for doubtful accounts is our best estimate of the losses we expect will result from the inability of our customers to make required payments. We generally determine the allowance based on a combination of actual historical write-off experience and an analysis of specific customer accounts. As of March 31, 2019 and December 31, 2018, we had allowances for doubtful accounts of $1.7 million and $1.5 million, respectively.

Refer to Note 14, "Segment Information," for further information, including the disaggregation of revenue by segment, primary geographical market, and major product type.

ACCOUNT PURCHASE AGREEMENT

In June 2018, we entered into an agreement (the “Account Purchase Agreement”) to offer to sell, on a revolving and discounted basis, certain trade accounts receivable balances to an unrelated third-party financial institution. If the financial institution purchases receivables thereunder, in its sole discretion, such transfers are accounted for as sales of receivables resulting in the receivables being de-recognized from our Consolidated Balance Sheet. The Account Purchase Agreement provides for the continuing sale of certain receivables on a revolving basis until June 2020 and automatically renews for successive one year terms, unless either party elects to terminate the Account Purchase Agreement in accordance with its terms. The maximum amount of receivables that may be sold at any time, prior to the settlement thereof, is $30.0 million.

For the three months ended March 31, 2019, $29.6 million of receivables were sold under the Account Purchase Agreement. As of March 31, 2019, $16.6 million of accounts receivable sold under the Asset Purchase Agreement were outstanding. The proceeds from these sales of receivables are included within the "Changes in working capital, net" line item in the operating activities section of the Consolidated Statements of Cash Flows. For the three months ended March 31, 2019, we recorded factoring expense on sales of receivables of less than $0.1 million, which is included in the "Selling, general and administrative expenses" line in the Consolidated Statement of Operations.

We have no retained interest in the receivables sold under the Account Purchase Agreement, however, we do have servicing responsibilities for the sold receivables. The fair value of the servicing arrangement was not material to the financial statements. As of March 31, 2019 and December 31, 2018, we had collected $12.7 million and $4.9 million of cash, respectively, from customers that had not yet been remitted to the third-party financial institution.

SUPPLY-CHAIN FINANCING

We have entered into supply-chain financing programs with financial intermediaries, which provide certain of our vendors the option to be paid by the financial intermediaries on our trade payables earlier than the due date on the applicable invoice. When a vendor receives an early payment on a trade payable it invoiced us for from a financial intermediary, we pay that financial intermediary the face amount of the invoice on the regularly scheduled due date. If we reimburse these vendors for certain fees they may incur in connection with receiving an early payment on an invoice, the amount of such invoice that would have otherwise been included in our trade payables is included in our short term debt. As of March 31, 2019 and December 31, 2018, $10.2 million and $20.8 million, respectively, was included in “Short-term debt” on our Consolidated Balance Sheets related to invoices for which we had reimbursed our vendors’ fees.

DERIVATIVES

We had no activity during the three months ended March 31, 2019 and 2018 that required hedge or derivative accounting treatment. To help mitigate our exposure to market risk for changes in utility commodity pricing, we use firm price contracts to supply a portion of the natural gas requirements for our manufacturing facilities. As of March 31, 2019, these contracts covered approximately 25% of our expected average monthly natural gas requirements for the remainder of 2019. Historically, these contracts have qualified for treatment as “normal purchases or normal sales” under authoritative guidance and thus required no mark-to-market adjustment.