Summary of Significant Accounting Policies (Policies)

9 Months Ended

Sep. 30, 2020

Accounting Policies [Abstract]

Basis of Presentation

Basis of Presentation

We prepared the accompanying unaudited consolidated financial statements in accordance with U.S. generally accepted accounting principles, or U.S. GAAP, pursuant to the rules and regulations of the Securities and Exchange Commission, or SEC, regarding interim financial reporting. Accordingly, the unaudited consolidated financial statements do not include all of the information and footnotes required by U.S. GAAP for complete financial statements and should be read in conjunction with our audited consolidated financial statements and related notes thereto for the year ended December 31, 2019. The accompanying unaudited consolidated financial statements reflect all adjustments that are, in our opinion, necessary for a fair presentation of results for the interim periods presented. We believe that these adjustments are of a normal recurring nature.

Preparing financial statements in conformity with U.S. GAAP requires us to make certain estimates and assumptions that affect the amounts that are reported in our consolidated financial statements and accompanying disclosures. Actual amounts could differ from those estimates. The results of operations for the nine and three months ended September 30, 2020 are not necessarily indicative of the results to be expected for any future period or the full fiscal year.

These statements include the accounts of our wholly-owned and controlled subsidiaries. All intercompany balances and transactions between us and our wholly-owned and controlled subsidiaries have been eliminated in consolidation. For consolidated subsidiaries in which our ownership is less than 100% and for which we have control over the assets and liabilities and the management of the entity, the outside stockholders’ interests are shown as non-controlling interests. Where outside owners hold an option to require us to repurchase their interests, these amounts are shown as redeemable non-controlling interests and are subject to remeasurement when repurchase is probable.

Recently Adopted Accounting Pronouncements

Recently Adopted Accounting Pronouncements

Standard/Description	Effective Date and Adoption Considerations	Effect on Financial Statements
ASU No. 2016-13, Financial Instruments - Measurement of Credit Losses on Financial Instruments, applies to all financial instruments carried at amortized cost including held-to-maturity debt securities and accounts receivable. It requires financial assets carried at amortized cost to be presented at the net amount expected to be collected and requires entities to record credit losses through an allowance for credit losses on available-for-sale debt securities.	We adopted on January 1, 2020 on a modified retrospective basis.	We evaluated this guidance to determine the impact on our consolidated financial statements. Based on our assessment, we concluded the impact of adoption of this guidance was not material. Further disclosures and details on our adoption are discussed below.
ASU 2017-04, Simplifying the Test for Goodwill Impairment, removes the second step of the goodwill impairment test, which requires a hypothetical purchase price allocation if the fair value of a reporting unit is less than its carrying value. Goodwill impairment will now be measured using the difference between the carrying value and the fair value of the reporting unit, and any loss recognized should not exceed the total amount of goodwill allocated to that reporting unit.	We adopted on January 1, 2020 on a prospective basis.	We evaluated this guidance to determine the impact on our consolidated financial statements. Based on our assessment, we concluded the impact of adoption of this guidance was not material. The fair values of our reporting units have been greater than their corresponding carrying values in recent years. Changes in future projections, market conditions, and other factors may cause a change in the excess of fair value of our reporting units over their corresponding carrying values.
ASU 2018-15, Customer's Accounting for Implementation Costs Incurred in a Cloud Computing Arrangement that is a Service Contract, helps entities evaluate the accounting for fees paid by a customer in a cloud computing arrangement by providing guidance for determining when an arrangement includes a software license and is solely a hosted service. Customers will now apply the same criteria for capitalizing implementation costs as they would for a software license arrangement. The guidance also prescribes the balance sheet, income statement, and cash flow classification of the capitalized implementation costs and related amortization expense, and requires additional quantitative and qualitative disclosures.	We adopted on January 1, 2020 and apply the rules prospectively to eligible costs incurred on or after the effective date.	We evaluated this guidance to determine the impact on our consolidated financial statements. Based on our assessment, we concluded the impact of adoption of this guidance was not material.
ASU No. 2019-12, Simplifying the Accounting for Income Taxes, eliminates certain exceptions related to the approach for intraperiod tax allocation, the methodology for calculating income taxes in an interim period and the recognition of deferred tax liabilities for outside basis differences. It clarifies that single-member limited liability companies, and other similar disregarded entities that are not subject to income tax, are not required to recognize an allocation of consolidated income tax expense in their separate financial statements. Further, it simplifies the accounting for franchise taxes, enacted changes in tax laws or rates and transactions that result in a step-up in the tax basis of goodwill.	Effective for fiscal years beginning after December 15, 2020 with early adoption permitted. We elected early adoption and adopted on January 1, 2020.	We evaluated this guidance to determine the impact on our consolidated financial statements. Based on our assessment, we concluded the impact of adoption of this guidance was not material.

Adoption of ASU 2016-13, Financial Instruments - Measurement of Credit Losses on Financial Instruments

On January 1, 2020, we adopted ASU 2016-13, Financial Instruments - Measurement of Credit Losses on Financial Instruments, or ASU 2016-13. This standard requires the application of a current expected credit loss, or CECL, impairment model to financial assets measured at amortized cost, including accounts receivable and certain off-balance-sheet credit exposures. The standard also amends the impairment model for available-for-sale debt securities requiring entities to record credit losses through an allowance account. The CECL model requires an entity to estimate its lifetime expected credit loss and record an allowance that, when deducted from the amortized cost basis of the financial asset, presents the net amount expected to be collected on the financial asset. Adoption of the standard requires more timely recognition of credit losses and credit loss estimates are required to use historical information, current information and reasonable and supportable forecasts of future events.

We adopted ASU 2016-13 using the modified retrospective approach through a cumulative-effect adjustment to retained earnings on January 1, 2020. ASU 2016-13 primarily impacted the calculation of our allowance for doubtful accounts on accounts receivable utilizing the expected credit losses model. Our adoption of ASU 2016-13 was subject to the same internal controls over financial reporting that we apply to our consolidated financial statements and the impact of our adoption was not material. We do not currently hold available-for-sale debt securities, off-balance-sheet credit exposures, or other material financial assets impacted by the standard, besides those mentioned below. 

We considered our material financial assets within scope, including our cash equivalents, short-term and long-term restricted cash equivalents as well as our clearing members' cash equivalent and reverse repurchase receivables, and determined that such assets have a de minimis risk of credit loss. We invest our cash and clearing members' cash by placing it in highly-rated government securities, primarily U.S. Treasury securities and other sovereign debt with original maturities of less than three months which we consider to be cash equivalents, or into reverse repurchase agreements, referred to as reverse repos, with primarily overnight maturities. Reverse repos are valued daily and are subject to collateral maintenance provisions whereby the counterparty must provide additional collateral if the value of the underlying securities lose value, in an amount sufficient to maintain collateralization of at least 102%. Therefore, as of and for the nine months ended September 30, 2020 we have not recorded a credit loss for these financial assets.

Based on the high turnover and collectability of our accounts receivable, as well as the monthly billing process for the majority of revenue, we did not experience a significant increase in the loss provision recognized upon adoption of the CECL model. Accounts receivable in our futures and clearing businesses have minimal credit risk as all clearing members are pre-screened, collection periods occur within one month and the services to customers are completed almost instantaneously. Our accounts receivable related to revenues from market data, cash trading, listings, technology services, mortgage technology, CDS transactions and bilateral OTC energy transactions subject us to credit losses, but we expeditiously limit our risk of credit loss by taking action such as terminating trading or transaction access, terminating public listings or ceasing to distribute data for entities with delinquent accounts. The concentration of risk on our accounts receivable is also mitigated by the high quality and the large number of entities comprising our customer base.

We estimated our allowance for doubtful accounts using an aging method, disaggregated based on major revenue stream categories as well as other unique revenue stream factors. The factors for pooling our accounts receivable balances were specific to each revenue stream based on our risk assessment, past patterns of collectability, our knowledge of the business, and customer-specific situations. We apply estimated reserve percentages to the risk pools identified, which are derived from historical write-off factors that are based on the accounts receivable balance’s delinquency status and adjusted as appropriate for our reasonable and supportable estimates of current and future economic conditions. We believe that historical write-off trends provide a basis for estimating future patterns of losses because there have been no significant changes in the mix or risk characteristics of the accounts receivable revenue stream pool populations from the risk pools used to calculate our historical write-off rates. At each measurement date we reassess whether our accounts receivable pools continue to exhibit similar risk characteristics. We then determine if assets need to be isolated further as part of their own specific line item reserve due to specific events, such as a customer’s inability to meet its financial obligations (i.e. customer disputes, highly unresponsive customers, delinquency of the receivable, or other indicators of credit deterioration of customers). Lastly, the CECL standard is forward-looking and requires us to factor reasonable and supportable economic expectations into our allowance estimate for the asset's entire expected life, which is generally less than one year.

A reconciliation of the beginning and ending amount of allowance for doubtful accounts is as follows for the nine months ended September 30, 2020 (in millions):

	Allowance for Doubtful Accounts
Beginning balance as of December 31, 2019	$	8
Impact of adoption of ASU 2016-13	13
Bad debt expense	11
Charge-offs	(7)
Ending balance as of September 30, 2020	$	25

The impact of adoption of ASU 2016-13 was $10 million, net of tax. We recorded this impact as an adjustment to retained earnings on January 1, 2020 as shown in our Consolidated Statement of Changes in Equity and Redeemable Non-Controlling Interest. We have included in our allowance assessment the impact of and our responses to the coronavirus, or COVID-19, pandemic. Our bad debt expense in the table above includes that assessment, the impact of which was not material for the nine and three months ended September 30, 2020. We will continue to review our accounts receivable and may incur future charge-offs as better estimates become available in future periods. Charge-offs in the table above represent the write-off of uncollectible receivables, net of recoveries. These amounts also include the impact of foreign currency translation adjustments.

Revenue Recognition

Substantially all of our revenues are considered to be revenues from contracts with customers. The related accounts receivable balances are recorded in our balance sheets as customer accounts receivable. We do not have obligations for warranties, returns or refunds to customers, other than rebates, which are settled each period and therefore do not result in variable consideration. We do not have significant revenue recognized from performance obligations that were satisfied in prior periods, and we do not have any transaction price allocated to unsatisfied performance obligations other than in our deferred revenue. Deferred revenue represents our contract liabilities related to our annual, original and other listings revenues as well as certain data, clearing and mortgage services and other revenues. See Note 7 for our discussion of deferred revenue balances, activity, and expected timing of recognition. We have elected not to provide disclosures about the transaction price allocated to unsatisfied performance obligations if contract durations are less than one year, or if we are not required to estimate the transaction price. For all of our contracts with customers, except for listings and certain data, clearing and mortgage services, our performance obligations are short term in nature and there is no significant variable consideration. In addition, we have elected the practical expedient of excluding sales taxes from transaction prices. We have assessed the costs incurred to obtain or fulfill a contract with a customer and determined them to be immaterial.