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BUSINESS SEGMENT AND FOREIGN INFORMATION
12 Months Ended
Dec. 31, 2017
Segment Reporting [Abstract]  
BUSINESS SEGMENT INFORMATION
BUSINESS SEGMENT AND FOREIGN INFORMATION
The Company consists of two reportable insurance business segments: Aflac Japan and Aflac U.S., both of which sell supplemental health and life insurance. Operating business segments that are not individually reportable and business activities, including reinsurance retrocession activities, not included in Aflac Japan or Aflac U.S. are included in the "Other business segments" category.

The Company does not allocate corporate overhead expenses to business segments. Consistent with U.S. GAAP accounting guidance for segment reporting, the Company evaluates and manages its business segments using a financial performance measure called pretax operating earnings. The Company's definition of operating earnings includes interest cash flows associated with notes payable and amortized hedge costs related to foreign currency denominated investments, but excludes certain items that cannot be predicted or that are outside of the management's control, such as realized investment gains and losses from securities transactions, impairments, change in loan loss reserves and certain derivative and foreign currency activities; nonrecurring items; and other non-operating income (loss) from net earnings. Nonrecurring and other non-operating items consist of infrequent events and activity not associated with the normal
course of the Company’s insurance operations and do not reflect Aflac’s underlying business performance. The Company excludes income taxes related to operations to arrive at pretax operating earnings. Information regarding operations by segment for the years ended December 31 follows:
(In millions)
2017
 
2016
 
2015
Revenues:
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Aflac Japan:
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
   Net earned premiums:
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
             Cancer
 
$
5,612

 
 
 
$
5,639

 
 
 
$
4,933

 
             Medical and other health
 
3,379

 
 
 
3,429

 
 
 
3,092

 
             Life insurance
 
3,761

 
 
 
4,469

 
 
 
4,021

 
   Net investment income, less amortized hedge costs (1)
 
2,235

 
 
 
2,368

 
 
 
2,364

 
   Other income
 
41

 
 
 
40

 
 
 
31

 
               Total Aflac Japan
 
15,028

 
 
 
15,945

 
 
 
14,441

 
Aflac U.S.:
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
   Net earned premiums:
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
             Accident/disability
 
2,537

 
 
 
2,469

 
 
 
2,391

 
             Cancer
 
1,308

 
 
 
1,299

 
 
 
1,293

 
             Other health
 
1,445

 
 
 
1,415

 
 
 
1,395

 
             Life insurance
 
273

 
 
 
271

 
 
 
268

 
   Net investment income
 
721

 
 
 
703

 
 
 
678

 
   Other income
 
5

 
 
 
10

 
 
 
8

 
           Total Aflac U.S.
 
6,289

 
 
 
6,167

 
 
 
6,033

 
Other business segments
 
140

 
 
 
275

 
 
 
225

 
           Total business segment revenues
 
21,457

 
 
 
22,387

 
 
 
20,699

 
Corporate and eliminations
 
210

 
 
 
85

 
 
 
79

 
           Total operating revenues
 
21,667

 
 
 
22,472

 
 
 
20,778

 
Realized investment gains (losses) (1), (2), (3)
 
0

 
 
 
87

 
 
 
94

 
           Total revenues
 
$
21,667

 
 
 
$
22,559

 
 
 
$
20,872

 

(1) Amortized hedge costs related to hedging U.S. dollar-denominated investments held in Aflac Japan were $228, $186 and $72 for 2017, 2016 and 2015, respectively, and have been reclassified from realized investment gains (losses) and reported as a deduction from net investment income when analyzing segment operations to conform to current year reporting.
(2) Excluding a gain of $77 in 2017 and $85 in both 2016 and 2015 related to the interest rate component of the change in fair value of foreign currency swaps on notes payable which is classified as an operating gain when analyzing segment operations
(3) Prior year foreign currency transaction gains and losses have been reclassified from other non-operating income (loss) to realized investment gains (losses) to conform to current-year reporting classifications. These reclassifications had no impact on total revenues.



(In millions)
2017
 
2016
 
2015
Pretax earnings:
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Aflac Japan (1)
 
$
3,054

 
 
 
$
3,148

 
 
 
$
3,103

 
Aflac U.S.
 
1,245

 
 
 
1,208

 
 
 
1,101

 
Other business segments
 
11

 
 
 
18

 
 
 
14

 
    Total business segment pretax operating earnings
 
4,310

 
 
 
4,374

 
 
 
4,218

 
Interest expense, noninsurance operations
 
(122
)
 
 
 
(128
)
 
 
 
(146
)
 
Corporate and eliminations
 
(101
)
 
 
 
(129
)
 
 
 
(71
)
 
    Pretax operating earnings
 
4,087

 
 
 
4,117

 
 
 
4,001

 
Realized investment gains (losses) (1), (2), (3)
 
0

 
 
 
87

 
 
 
94

 
Other non-operating income (loss) (3), (4)
 
(69
)

 
 
(137
)
 
 
 
(233
)

    Total earnings before income taxes
 
$
4,018

 
 
 
$
4,067

 
 
 
$
3,862

 
Income taxes applicable to pretax operating earnings
 
$
1,370

 
 
 
$
1,426

 
 
 
$
1,377

 
Effect of foreign currency translation on after-tax
operating earnings
 
(41
)
 
 
 
141

 
 
 
(198
)
 

(1) Amortized hedge costs related to hedging U.S. dollar-denominated investments held in Aflac Japan were $228, $186 and $72 for 2017, 2016 and 2015 respectively, and have been reclassified from realized investment gains (losses) and reported as a deduction from pretax operating earnings when analyzing segment operations to conform to current year reporting.
(2) Excluding a gain of $77 in 2017 and $85 in both 2016 and 2015 related to the interest rate component of the change in fair value of foreign currency swaps on notes payable which is classified as an operating gain when analyzing segment operations
(3) Prior year foreign currency transaction gains and losses have been reclassified from other non-operating income (loss) to realized investment gains (losses) to conform to current-year reporting classifications. These reclassifications had no impact on total earnings before income taxes.
(4) Includes expense of $13 in 2017, $137 in 2016 and $230 in 2015 for the early extinguishment of debt

Assets as of December 31 were as follows:
(In millions)
2017
 
2016
 
2015
Assets:
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Aflac Japan
 
$
114,402

 
 
 
$
107,858

 
 
 
$
97,646

 
Aflac U.S.
 
19,893

 
 
 
19,453

 
 
 
18,537

 
Other business segments
 
547

 
 
 
270

 
 
 
188

 
    Total business segment assets
 
134,842

 
 
 
127,581

 
 
 
116,371

 
Corporate and eliminations
 
2,375

 
 
 
2,238

 
 
 
1,885

 
    Total assets
 
$
137,217

 
 
 
$
129,819

 
 
 
$
118,256

 

Amounts prior to 2016 have been adjusted for the adoption of the accounting guidance on January 1, 2016 related to debt issuance costs.

Yen-Translation Effects: The following table shows the yen/dollar exchange rates used for or during the periods ended December 31. Exchange effects were calculated using the same yen/dollar exchange rate for the current year as for each respective prior year.
 
2017
 
2016
 
2015
Statements of Earnings:
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Weighted-average yen/dollar exchange rate
 
112.16

 
 
 
108.70

 
 
 
120.99

 
Yen percent strengthening (weakening)
 
(3.1
)%
 
 
 
11.3
%
 
 
 
(12.8
)%
 
Exchange effect on pretax operating earnings (in millions)
 
$
(63
)
 
 
 
$
218

 
 
 
$
(288
)
 

 
2017
 
2016
Balance Sheets:
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Yen/dollar exchange rate at December 31
 
113.00

 
 
 
116.49

 
Yen percent strengthening (weakening)
 
3.1
%
 
 
 
3.5
%
 
Exchange effect on total assets (in millions)
 
$
2,593

 
 
 
$
2,820

 
Exchange effect on total liabilities (in millions)
 
2,848

 
 
 
3,109

 


Transfers of funds from Aflac Japan: Aflac Japan makes payments to the Parent Company for management fees and to Aflac U.S. for allocated expenses and profit repatriations. Information on transfers for each of the years ended December 31 is shown below. See Note 13 for information concerning restrictions on transfers from Aflac Japan.
(In millions)
2017
 
2016
 
2015
Management fees
 
$
93

 
 
 
$
79

 
 
 
$
53

 
Allocated expenses
 
109

 
 
 
106

 
 
 
101

 
Profit repatriation
 
1,150

 
 
 
1,286

 
 
 
2,139

 
Total transfers from Aflac Japan
 
$
1,352

 
 
 
$
1,471

 
 
 
$
2,293

 


Property and Equipment: The costs of buildings, furniture and equipment are depreciated principally on a straight-line basis over their estimated useful lives (maximum of 50 years for buildings and 20 years for furniture and equipment). Expenditures for maintenance and repairs are expensed as incurred; expenditures for betterments are capitalized and depreciated. Classes of property and equipment as of December 31 were as follows:
(In millions)
2017
 
2016
Property and equipment:
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Land
 
$
168

 
 
 
$
166

 
Buildings
 
441

 
 
 
421

 
Equipment and furniture
 
372

 
 
 
355

 
Total property and equipment
 
981

 
 
 
942

 
Less accumulated depreciation
 
547

 
 
 
509

 
Net property and equipment
 
$
434

 
 
 
$
433

 


Receivables: Receivables consist primarily of monthly insurance premiums due from individual policyholders or their employers for payroll deduction of premiums, net of an allowance for doubtful accounts. At December 31, 2017, $334 million, or 40.4% of total receivables, were related to Aflac Japan's operations, compared with $207 million, or 30.9%, at December 31, 2016.