Description of Business and Basis of Presentation

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2019

Organization, Consolidation and Presentation of Financial Statements [Abstract]

DESCRIPTION OF BUSINESS AND BASIS OF PRESENTATION

DESCRIPTION OF BUSINESS AND BASIS OF PRESENTATION

Description of Business: Cousins Properties Incorporated (“Cousins”), a Georgia corporation, is a self-administered and self-managed real estate investment trust (“REIT”). Cousins conducts substantially all of its business through Cousins Properties, LP ("CPLP"). Cousins owns approximately 99% of CPLP and consolidates CPLP. CPLP owns Cousins TRS Services LLC ("CTRS") a taxable entity which owns and manages its own real estate portfolio and performs certain real estate related services for other parties.

Cousins, CPLP, CTRS, and their subsidiaries (collectively, the “Company”) develop, acquire, lease, manage, and own primarily Class A office properties and opportunistic mixed-use developments in the Sunbelt markets of the United States with a focus on Georgia, Texas, North Carolina, Arizona, and Florida. Cousins has elected to be taxed as a REIT and intends to, among other things, distribute at least 100% of its net taxable income to stockholders, thereby eliminating any liability for federal income taxes under current law. Therefore, the results included herein do not include a federal income tax provision for Cousins. As of December 31, 2019, the Company’s portfolio of real estate assets consisted of interests in 21.5 million square feet of office space and 310,000 square feet of mixed-use space.

Basis of Presentation: The consolidated financial statements include the accounts of the Company and its consolidated partnerships and wholly-owned subsidiaries. Intercompany transactions and balances have been eliminated in consolidation. The Company presents its financial statements in accordance with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States (“GAAP”) as outlined in the Financial Accounting Standard Board’s Accounting Standards Codification (the “Codification” or “ASC”). The Codification is the single source of authoritative accounting principles applied by nongovernmental entities in the preparation of financial statements in conformity with GAAP.

On June 14, 2019, the Company restated and amended its articles of incorporation to effect a reverse stock split of the issued and outstanding shares of its common and preferred stock pursuant to which (1) each four shares of the Company's issued and outstanding common stock were combined into one share of the Company's common or preferred stock, respectively, and (2) the authorized number of the Company's common stock was proportionally reduced to 175 million shares. Fractional shares of common stock resulting from the reverse stock split were settled in cash. Preferred stock was redeemed with each four shares combined into one share; fractional shares of preferred stock were redeemed without payout. Immediately thereafter, the Company further amended its articles of incorporation to increase the number of authorized shares of its common stock from 175 million to 300 million shares. All shares of common stock, stock options, restricted stock units, and per share information presented in the consolidated financial statements have been adjusted to reflect the reverse stock split on a retroactive basis for all periods presented.

For the three years ended December 31, 2019, there were no items of other comprehensive income. Therefore, the Company did not present comprehensive income. Additionally, certain subtotals within the consolidated statements of operations for the years ended December 31, 2018 and 2017 were removed to conform to the current period presentation.

On January 1, 2019, the Company began recording lease termination fees in rental property revenues on the consolidated statements of operations as a result of the adoption of Accounting Standards Update ("ASU") 2016-02, "Leases," ("ASC 842"). The prior period amounts, which were included in other revenues, were reclassified to conform to the current period presentation.

The Company evaluates all partnerships, joint ventures, and other arrangements with variable interests to determine if the entity or arrangement qualifies as a variable interest entity (“VIE”), as defined in the Codification. If the entity or arrangement qualifies as a VIE and the Company is determined to be the primary beneficiary, the Company is required to consolidate the assets, liabilities, and results of operations of the VIE. As of December 31, 2019 the Company did not have any partnerships, joint ventures, or other arrangements with variable interests that qualified as a VIE.

Recently Issued Accounting Standards: On January 1, 2019, the Company adopted ASC 842, which amended the previous standard for lease accounting by requiring lessees to record most leases on their balance sheets and by making targeted changes to lessor accounting and reporting. The new standard requires lessees to record a right-of-use asset and a lease liability for leases and classify such leases as either finance or operating leases based on the principle of whether the lease is effectively a financed purchase of the leased asset by the lessee. The classification of the leases determines whether the lease expense is recognized based on an effective interest method (finance leases) or on a straight-line basis over the term of the lease (operating leases). The new standard also revised the treatment of indirect leasing costs and permits the capitalization and amortization of direct leasing costs only. For the years ended December 31, 2018 and 2017, the Company capitalized $3.8 million and $3.0 million of indirect leasing costs, respectively.

The Company adopted the following optional practical expedients provided in ASC 842:

•no reassessment of any expired or existing contracts to determine if they contain a lease;

•no reassessment of initial direct costs for any existing leases;

•no recognition of right-of-use assets and lease liabilities for leases with a term of one year or less;

• no separate classification and disclosure of non-lease components of revenue in lease contracts from the related lease components provided certain conditions are met; and

• no reassessment of the lease classification.

For those leases where the Company was the lessee, specifically ground leases, the adoption of ASC 842 required the Company to record a right-of-use asset and a lease liability in the amount of $56.3 million on the condensed consolidated balance sheet. In calculating the right of use asset and lease liability, the Company used a weighted average discount rate of 4.49%, which represented the Company's incremental borrowing rate related to the ground lease assets as of January 1, 2019. Ground leases executed before the adoption of ASC 842 are accounted for as operating leases and did not result in a materially different ground lease expense. However, most ground leases executed after the adoption of ASC 842 are expected to be accounted for as finance leases, which will result in ground lease expense being recorded using the effective interest method instead of the straight-line method over the term of the lease, resulting in higher expense associated with the ground lease in the earlier years of a ground lease when compared to the straight line method. The Company used the "modified retrospective" method upon adoption of ASC 842, which permitted application of the new standard on the adoption date as opposed to the earliest comparative period presented in its financial statements. For additional disclosures, see note 6 "Leases" and note 14 "Revenue Recognition"

On January 1, 2018, the Company adopted ASU 2017-05, “Other Income - Gains and Losses from the Derecognition of Nonfinancial Assets (Subtopic 610-20): Clarifying the Scope of Asset Derecognition Guidance and Accounting for Partial Sales of Nonfinancial Assets” (“ASU 2017-05"). As a result of the adoption of ASU 2017-05, the Company recorded a cumulative effect from change in accounting principle, which credited distributions in excess of cumulative net income by $22.3 million. This cumulative effect adjustment resulted from the 2013 transfer of a wholly-owned property to an entity in which it had a noncontrolling interest.