XML 27 R9.htm IDEA: XBRL DOCUMENT v3.6.0.2
Recent Accounting Pronouncements
12 Months Ended
Dec. 31, 2016
Recent Accounting Pronouncements [Abstract]  
Recent Accounting Pronouncements

(2)   Recent Accounting Pronouncements:



Recently Adopted Accounting Pronouncements



Business Combinations – Measurement Period Adjustments

In September 2015, the FASB issued ASU No. 2015-16, “Business Combinations – Simplifying the Accounting for Measurement Period Adjustments.” This ASU requires that an acquirer recognizes adjustments to provisional amounts that are identified during the measurement period in the reporting period in which the adjustment amounts are determined. The amendments in this Update require that the acquirer record, in the same period’s financial statements, the effect on earnings of changes in depreciation, amortization, or other income effects, if any, as a result of the change to the provisional amounts, calculated as if the accounting had been completed at the acquisition date. The amendments in this Update require an entity to present separately on the face of the income statement or disclose in the notes the portion of the amount recorded in current-period earnings by line item that would have been recorded in previous reporting periods if the adjustment to the provisional amounts had been recognized as of the acquisition date.  The new guidance was effective for Frontier on January 1, 2016 and has been applied to the measurement period adjustments related to our CTF Acquisition during 2016.



Employee Benefit Plans

In July 2015, the FASB issued ASU No. 2015-12, “Plan Accounting: Defined Benefit Pension Plans (Topic 960), Defined Contribution Pension Plans (Topic 962), and Health and Welfare Benefit Plans (Topic 965)”: There are three parts to the ASU that aim to simplify the accounting and presentation of plan accounting. Part I of this ASU requires fully benefit-responsive investment contracts to be measured at contract value instead of the current fair value measurement. Part II of this ASU requires investments (both participant-directed and nonparticipant-directed investments) of employee benefit plans be grouped only by general type, eliminating the need to disaggregate the investments in multiple ways. Part III of this ASU provides a similar measurement date practical expedient for employee benefit plans as available in ASU No. 2015-04, “Compensation – Retirement Benefits (Topic 715),” which allows employers to measure defined benefit plan assets on a month-end date that is nearest to the year’s fiscal year-end when the fiscal period does not coincide with a month-end. Parts I and II of the new guidance should be applied on a retrospective basis. Part III of the new guidance should be applied on a prospective basis. The new guidance was effective for Frontier on January 1, 2016 and Frontier has applied the new guidance in its reporting for defined benefit plans completed in 2016.



Cash Flows – Classification of Certain Cash Receipts and Cash Payments

In August 2016, the FASB issued ASU No. 2016-15,” Statement of Cash Flows – Classification of Certain Cash Receipts and Cash Payments.” This ASU addresses eight specific cash flow issues with the objective of reducing the existing diversity in practice. The amendments in this ASU provide guidance on the following cash flow issues: 1) debt prepayment or debt extinguishment costs; 2) settlement of zero-coupon debt instruments; 3) contingent consideration payments made after a  business combination; 4) proceeds from the settlement of insurance claims; 5) proceeds from the settlement of corporate-owned life insurance policies, including bank-owned life insurance policies; 6) distributions received from equity method investees; 7) beneficial interests in securitization transactions; and 8) separately identifiable cash flows and application of the predominance principle. The new guidance was early adopted by Frontier in 2016 and Frontier has retrospectively applied the new guidance in our Statement of Cash Flows for 2014, 2015, and 2016.



Statement of Cash Flows – Restricted Cash

In November 2016, the FASB issued ASU No. 2016-18, “Statement of Cash Flows – Restricted Cash Flows.”  This ASU requires that a statement of cash flows explain the change during the period in the total of cash, cash equivalents, and amounts generally described as restricted cash or restricted cash equivalents. Therefore, amounts generally described as restricted cash and restricted cash equivalents should be included with cash and cash equivalents when reconciling the beginning-of-period and end-of-period total amounts shown on the statement of cash flows. The amendments in this Update do not provide a definition of restricted cash or restricted cash equivalents. The new guidance was early adopted by Frontier in 2016 and Frontier has retrospectively applied the new guidance in our Statement of Cash Flows for 2014, 2015, and 2016. 



Recent Accounting Pronouncements Not Yet Adopted



Revenue Recognition

In May 2014, the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) issued Accounting Standards Update (ASU) No. 2014-09, “Revenue from Contracts with Customers.” This standard, along with its related amendments, requires companies to recognize revenue to depict the transfer of promised goods or services to customers in an amount that reflects the consideration to which Frontier expects to be entitled in exchange for those goods or services. This new standard is effective for annual and interim reporting periods beginning after December 15, 2017. Companies are also permitted to voluntarily adopt the new standard as of the original effective date that was for annual reporting periods beginning after December 15, 2016, however, Frontier does not intend to early adopt. Companies are permitted to either apply the requirements retrospectively to all prior periods presented, or apply the requirements in the year of adoption, through a cumulative adjustment. Frontier has not yet selected a transition method and is currently evaluating the guidance and developing an implementation plan.   



Leases

In February 2016, the FASB issued ASU No. 2016 – 02, “Leases (Topic 842).” This standard establishes the principles to report transparent and economically neutral information about the assets and liabilities that arise from leases. Upon implementation, lessees will need to recognize almost all leases on their balance sheet as a right-of-use asset and a lease liability. It will be critical to identify leases embedded in a contract to avoid misstating the lessee’s balance sheet. For income statement purposes, the FASB retained a dual model, requiring leases to be classified as either operating or finance. Classification will be based on criteria that are largely similar to those applied in current lease accounting, but without explicit bright lines. Lessor accounting is similar to the current model, but updated to align with certain changes to the lessee model and the new revenue recognition standard. Existing sale-leaseback guidance, including guidance for real estate, is replaced with a new model applicable to both lessees and lessors. The new guidance is effective for fiscal years beginning after December 15, 2018, including interim periods within those fiscal years. Early application is permitted.  Frontier is currently evaluating the impact of adopting the new standard, but has not yet determined the impact of adoption on its consolidated financial statements.



Compensation – Stock Compensation

In March 2016, the FASB issued ASU No. 2016-09, “Improvements to Employee Share-Based Payment Accounting,” to amend ASC Topic 718, “Compensation – Stock Compensation.” The ASU is part of the FASB’s ongoing simplification initiative, which is designed to reduce cost and complexity while maintaining or improving the usefulness of the information provided to the users of financial statements. The proposed simplifications address a variety of areas for public entities, including the following: 1) accounting for income taxes, 2) classification of excess tax benefits on the statement of cash flows, 3) forfeitures, 4) minimum statutory tax withholding requirements, 5) classifications of employee taxes paid on the statement of cash flows when an employer withholds shares for tax withholding purposes, and 6) classification of awards with repurchase features. The new guidance is effective for fiscal years beginning after December 15, 2016, including interim periods within those fiscal years. Frontier has determined that the impact of adoption is immaterial to its consolidated financial statements.



Intangibles – Goodwill

In January 2017, the FASB issued ASU No. 2017-04, “Simplifying the Test for Goodwill Impairment,” This standard was established to simplify how an entity is required to test goodwill for impairment by eliminating Step 2 from the goodwill impairment test. Step 2 measures a goodwill impairment loss by comparing the implied fair value of a reporting unit’s goodwill with the carrying amount of that goodwill. Under the amendments in this Update, an entity should perform its annual, or interim, goodwill impairment test by comparing the fair value of a reporting unit with its carrying amount. An entity should recognize an impairment charge for the amount by which the carrying amount exceeds the reporting unit’s fair value; however, the loss recognized should not exceed the total amount of goodwill allocated to that reporting unit. Additionally, an entity should consider income tax effects from any tax deductible goodwill on the carrying amount of the reporting unit when measuring the goodwill impairment loss, if applicable. The Board also eliminated the requirements for any reporting unit with a zero or negative carrying amount to perform a qualitative assessment and, if it fails that qualitative test, to perform Step 2 of the goodwill impairment test. Therefore, the same impairment assessment applies to all reporting units. An entity is required to disclose the amount of goodwill allocated to each reporting unit with a zero or negative carrying amount of net assets. An entity still has the option to perform the qualitative assessment for a reporting unit to determine if the quantitative impairment test is necessary. The new guidance is effective for fiscal years beginning after December 15, 2019, including interim periods within those fiscal years. Early adoption is permitted for interim or annual goodwill impairment tests performed on testing dates after January 1, 2017. Frontier is currently evaluating the impact of adopting the new standard and has not yet determined the impact of adoption on its consolidated financial statements.