SUMMARY OF SIGNIFICANT ACCOUNTING POLICIES (Policies)

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2020

Accounting Policies [Abstract]

ConsolidationPolicy

Principles of Consolidation

The consolidated financial statements include the accounts of the Corporation and its majority-owned subsidiaries. All intercompany transactions and accounts have been eliminated.

UseOfEstimates

Use of Estimates

The financial statements of the Corporation have been prepared in conformity with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America (U.S. GAAP), which requires management to make estimates and judgments that affect the reported amount of assets, liabilities, revenue, and expenses and disclosure of contingent assets and liabilities in the accompanying financial statements. The most significant of these estimates includes the estimate of costs to complete on certain contracts using the over-time revenue recognition accounting method, cash flow estimates used for testing the recoverability of assets, pension plan and postretirement obligation assumptions, estimates for inventory obsolescence, fair value estimates around assets and assumed liabilities from acquisitions, estimates for the valuation and useful lives of intangible assets, legal reserves, and the estimate of future environmental costs. Actual results may differ from these estimates.

CashAndCashEquivalentsPolicyTextBlock

Cash and Cash Equivalents

Cash equivalents consist of money market funds and commercial paper that are readily convertible into cash, all with original maturity dates of three months or less.

InventoryPolicyTextBlock

Inventory

Inventories are stated at lower of cost or net realizable value. Production costs are comprised of direct material and labor and applicable manufacturing overhead.

Progress Payments [Policy Text Block]

Progress Payments

Certain long-term contracts provide for interim billings as costs are incurred on the respective contracts. Pursuant to contract provisions, agencies of the U.S. Government and other customers obtain control of promised goods or services to the extent that progress payments are received. Accordingly, these receipts have been reported as a reduction of unbilled receivables as presented in Note 5 to the Consolidated Financial Statements. In the event that progress payments received exceed revenue recognized to date on a specific contract, a contract liability has been established with such amount reported in the "Deferred revenue" line within the Consolidated Balance Sheet.

The Corporation also receives progress payments on development contracts related to certain aerospace and defense programs. Progress payments received on partially funded development contracts have been reported as a reduction of inventories, as presented in Note 6 to the Consolidated Financial Statements.

PropertyPlantAndEquipmentPolicyTextBlock

Property, Plant, and Equipment

Property, plant, and equipment are carried at cost less accumulated depreciation. Major renewals and betterments are capitalized, while maintenance and repairs that do not improve or extend the life of the asset are expensed in the period that they are incurred. Depreciation is computed using the straight-line method over the estimated useful lives of the respective assets.

Average useful lives for property, plant, and equipment are as follows:

Buildings and improvements	5 to 40 years
Machinery, equipment, and other	3 to 15 years

GoodwillAndIntangibleAssetsIntangibleAssetsPolicy

Intangible Assets

Intangible assets are generally the result of acquisitions and consist primarily of purchased technology, customer related intangibles, trademarks, and technology licenses. Intangible assets are amortized on a straight-line basis over their estimated useful lives, which range from 1 to 20 years. See Note 9 to the Consolidated Financial Statements for further information on other intangible assets.

ImpairmentOrDisposalOfLongLivedAssetsPolicyTextBlock

Impairment of Long-Lived AssetsThe Corporation reviews the recoverability of all long-lived assets, including the related useful lives, whenever events or changes in circumstances indicate that the carrying amount of a long-lived asset might not be recoverable. If required, the Corporation compares the estimated fair value determined by either the undiscounted future net cash flows or appraised value to the related asset’s carrying value to determine whether there has been an impairment. If an asset is considered impaired, the asset is written down to fair value in the period in which the impairment becomes known. The Corporation recognized no significant impairment charges on assets held in use during the years ended December 31, 2020, 2019, and 2018.

Goodwill and Intangible Assets, Goodwill, Policy [Policy Text Block]

Goodwill

Goodwill results from business acquisitions. The Corporation accounts for business acquisitions by allocating the purchase price to the tangible and intangible assets acquired and liabilities assumed. Assets acquired and liabilities assumed are recorded at their fair values, and the excess of the purchase price over the amounts allocated is recorded as goodwill. The recoverability of goodwill is subject to an annual impairment test or whenever an event occurs or circumstances change that would more likely than not result in an impairment. The impairment test is based on the estimated fair value of the underlying businesses. The Corporation’s goodwill impairment test is performed annually in the fourth quarter of each year. See Note 8 to the Consolidated Financial Statements for further information on goodwill.

FairValueOfFinancialInstrumentsPolicy

Fair Value of Financial InstrumentsAccounting guidance requires certain disclosures regarding the fair value of financial instruments. Due to the short maturities of cash and cash equivalents, accounts receivable, accounts payable, and accrued expenses, the net book value of these financial instruments is deemed to approximate fair value. See Notes 11 and 14 to the Consolidated Financial Statements for further information on the Corporation's financial instruments.

ResearchAndDevelopmentExpensePolicy

Research and Development

The Corporation funds research and development programs for commercial products and independent research and development and bid and proposal work related to government contracts. Development costs include engineering for new customer requirements. Corporation-sponsored research and development costs are expensed as incurred.

Research and development costs associated with customer-sponsored programs are capitalized to inventory and are recorded in cost of sales when products are delivered or services performed. Funds received under shared development contracts are a reduction of the total development expenditures under the shared contract and are shown net as research and development costs.

ShareBasedCompensationOptionAndIncentivePlansPolicy

Accounting for Share-Based Payments

The Corporation follows the fair value based method of accounting for share-based employee compensation, which requires the Corporation to expense all share-based employee compensation. Share-based employee compensation is a non-cash expense since the Corporation settles these obligations by issuing the shares of Curtiss-Wright Corporation instead of settling such obligations with cash payments.

Compensation expense for non-qualified share options, performance shares, and time-based restricted stock is recognized over the requisite service period for the entire award based on the grant date fair value.

IncomeTaxPolicyTextBlock

Income Taxes

The Corporation accounts for income taxes using the asset and liability method. Under the asset and liability method, deferred tax assets and liabilities are recognized for future tax consequences attributable to differences between the financial statement carrying amounts of existing assets and liabilities and their respective tax bases. The effect on deferred tax assets and liabilities of a change in tax laws is recognized in the results of operations in the period the new laws are enacted. A valuation allowance is recorded to reduce the carrying amounts of deferred tax assets unless it is more likely than not that such assets will be realized.

The Corporation records amounts related to uncertain income tax positions by 1) prescribing a minimum recognition threshold a tax position is required to meet before being recognized in the financial statements and 2) the measurement of the income tax benefits recognized from such positions. The Corporation’s accounting policy is to classify uncertain income tax positions that are not expected to be resolved in one year as a non-current income tax liability and to classify interest and penalties as a component of interest expense and general and administrative expenses, respectively. See Note 13 to the Consolidated Financial Statements for further information.

ForeignCurrencyTransactionsAndTranslationsPolicyTextBlock

Foreign Currency

For operations outside the United States of America that prepare financial statements in currencies other than the U.S. dollar, the Corporation translates assets and liabilities at period-end exchange rates and income statement amounts using weighted-average exchange rates for the period. The cumulative effect of translation adjustments is presented as a component of accumulated other comprehensive income (loss) within stockholders’ equity. This balance is primarily affected by foreign currency exchange rate fluctuations. (Gains) and losses from foreign currency transactions are included in General and administrative expenses in the Consolidated Statement of Earnings, which amounted to $3.9 million, $7.2 million, and ($4.5) million for the years ended December 31, 2020, 2019, and 2018, respectively.

DerivativesPolicyTextBlock

Derivatives

Forward Foreign Exchange and Currency Option Contracts

The Corporation uses financial instruments, such as forward exchange and currency option contracts, to hedge a portion of existing and anticipated foreign currency denominated transactions. The purpose of the Corporation’s foreign currency risk management program is to reduce volatility in earnings caused by exchange rate fluctuations. All derivative financial instruments are recorded at fair value based upon quoted market prices for comparable instruments, with the gain or loss on these transactions recorded into earnings in the period in which they occur. These (gains) and losses are classified as General and administrative expenses in the Consolidated Statement of Earnings and amounted to $2.3 million, ($2.1) million, and $6.6 million for the years ended December 31, 2020, 2019, and 2018, respectively. The Corporation does not use derivative financial instruments for trading or speculative purposes.

Interest Rate Risks and Related Strategies

The Corporation’s primary interest rate exposure results from changes in U.S. dollar interest rates. The Corporation’s policy is to manage interest cost using a mix of fixed and variable rate debt. The Corporation periodically uses interest rate swaps to manage such exposures. Under these interest rate swaps, the Corporation exchanges, at specified intervals, the difference between fixed and floating interest amounts calculated by reference to an agreed-upon notional principal amount.

For interest rate swaps designated as fair value hedges (i.e., hedges against the exposure to changes in the fair value of an asset or a liability or an identified portion thereof that is attributable to a particular risk), changes in the fair value of the interest rate swaps offset changes in the fair value of the fixed rate debt due to changes in market interest rates.

New Accounting Pronouncements, Policy [Policy Text Block]

Recently Issued Accounting Standards

Recent accounting standards adopted

ASU 2016-13- Financial Instruments—Credit Losses (Topic 326), Measurement of Credit Losses on Financial Instruments. On January 1, 2020, the Company adopted ASU 2016-13 -Financial Instruments—Credit Losses (Topic 326), Measurement of Credit Losses on Financial Instruments. This ASU added a current expected credit loss impairment model to U.S. GAAP based on expected losses rather than incurred losses. As the Corporation is not subject to material trade credit risk given that a significant portion of its sales are generated from contracts with agencies of or prime contractors to the U.S. Government, the adoption of this standard did not have a material impact on the Corporation's consolidated financial statements as of January 1,

2020. As a result of adoption, the Corporation utilizes current and historical collection data as well as assesses current economic conditions in order to determine expected trade credit losses on a prospective basis.