Nature of Operations and Summary of Significant Accounting Policies (Policies)	3 Months Ended
Mar. 31, 2021
Accounting Policies [Abstract]
Basis of Presentation	Basis of Presentation These interim financial statements and related management’s discussion and analysis should be read in conjunction with the Consolidated Financial Statements and the related notes and management’s discussion and analysis of results of operations, liquidity and capital resources included in our 2020 Annual Report on Form 10-K (“2020 Form 10-K”). These interim financial statements are unaudited. The year-end balance sheet data included in this Form 10-Q was derived from audited financial statements, but does not include all disclosures required by generally accepted accounting principles in the United States of America. On February 1, 2021 (the “Closing Date”), the Company completed the combination (the "Merger") of IFF and DuPont de Numerous, Inc (“DuPont”) nutrition and biosciences business (the “N&B Business”), which had been transferred to Nutrition and Biosciences, Inc., a Delaware corporation and wholly owned subsidiary of DuPont ("N&B") in a Reverse Morris Trust transaction. See Note 3 for additional information. As a result, the Company’s consolidated financial statements for the three months ended March 31, 2021 reflects the results of N&B from the Closing Date, whereas the Company’s consolidated financial statements for the three months ended March 31, 2020 do not. In the current year, the Company has changed its presentation from thousands to millions and, as a result, any necessary rounding adjustments have been made to prior year disclosed amounts.
Use of Estimates	Use of Estimates The preparation of financial statements in conformity with U.S. generally accepted accounting principles (“U.S. GAAP”) requires management to make estimates and judgments that affect the amounts reported in the Consolidated Financial Statements and accompanying notes. The inputs into our judgments and estimates take into account the current economic implications of the novel coronavirus ("COVID-19") on our critical and significant accounting estimates, including estimates associated with future cash flows that are used in assessing the risk of impairment of certain long-lived assets. Actual results could differ from those estimates.
Recent Accounting Pronouncements	Recent Accounting Pronouncements In January 2021, the FASB issued Accounting Standards Update ("ASU") 2021-01, "Reference Rate Reform (Topic 848): Scope." The ASU is intended to provide updates and responses to concerns over Topic 848 related to the cessation of reference rates in certain financial markets. Alternative reference rates that are more observable or transaction based have been identified and are being transitioned to in numerous jurisdictions globally, such as a receive-variable-rate, pay-variable-rate cross currency interest rate swap. This guidance is effective immediately for all entities, but does not apply to any contract modifications or new hedging relationships entered into after December 31, 2022. The Company is currently evaluating the impact of this guidance, but does not expect this guidance to have a material impact on its Consolidated Financial Statements. In March 2020, the FASB issued ASU 2020-04, “Reference Rate Reform (Topic 848): Facilitation of the Effects of Reference Rate Reform on Financial Reporting.” The ASU is intended to simplify various aspects related to the cessation of reference rates in certain financial markets that would otherwise create modification accounting or changes in estimate. This guidance is effective for the period from March 12, 2020 to December 31, 2022. The Company has not adopted any of the optional expedients or exceptions through March 31, 2021 but will continue to evaluate the possible adoption of any such expedients or exceptions during the effective period as circumstances evolve. In December 2019, the FASB issued ASU 2019-12, “Income Taxes (Topic 740): Simplifying the Accounting for Income Taxes.” The ASU is intended to simplify various aspects related to accounting for income taxes. This guidance is effective for fiscal years beginning after December 15, 2020, and for interim periods within those fiscal years, with early adoption permitted. This guidance was adopted on January 2, 2021 and does not have a material impact on the Company's Consolidated Financial Statements.
Receivable	Accounts Receivable The Company has various factoring agreements in the U.S. and The Netherlands under which it can factor up to approximately $100 million in receivables. In addition, the Company has factoring agreements sponsored by certain customers. Under all of the arrangements, the Company sells the receivables on a non-recourse basis to unrelated financial institutions and accounts for the transactions as a sale of receivables. The applicable receivables are removed from the Company's Consolidated Balance Sheet when the cash proceeds are received by the Company. Through these factoring programs, the Company removed $304 million and $249 million of receivables from its balance sheets as of March 31, 2021 and December 31, 2020, respectively, which are primarily related to the factoring agreements sponsored by certain customers. The impact on cash provided by operations from participating in these programs was an increase of $55 million for the three months ended March 31, 2021 and a decrease of $5 million for the three months ended March 31, 2020. The cost of participating in these programs was approximately $1 million for both the three months ended March 31, 2021 and 2020.
Revenue	Revenue Recognition The Company recognizes revenue when control of the promised goods is transferred to its customers in an amount that reflects the consideration it expects to be entitled to in exchange for those goods. Sales, value added, and other taxes the Company collects are excluded from revenues. The Company receives payment in accordance with standard customer terms. See Note 11 for further details on revenues disaggregated by segment.
Property, Plant and Equipment, Policy	Property, Plant and Equipment Property, plant and equipment are recorded at cost. Depreciation is calculated on a straight-line basis, principally over the following estimated useful lives: buildings and improvements, 1 to 50 years; machinery and equipment, 1 to 40 years; information technology hardware and software, 1 to 23 years; and leasehold improvements which are included in buildings and improvements, the estimated life of the improvements or the remaining term of the lease, whichever is shorter.
Goodwill and Intangible Assets, Intangible Assets, Policy	Finite-Lived Intangible Assets Finite-lived intangible assets include customer relationships, patents, trade names, technological know-how and other intellectual property valued at acquisition and amortized on a straight-line basis over the following estimated useful lives: customer relationships, 11 – 25 years; patents, 11 - 15 years; trade names, 4 - 28 years; and technological know-how, 5 - 28 years. The Company reviews long-lived assets for impairment when events or changes in business conditions indicate that their carrying value may not be recovered. An estimate of undiscounted future cash flows produced by an asset or group of assets is compared to the carrying value to determine whether impairment exists. If assets are determined to be impaired, the loss is measured based on an estimate of fair value using various valuation techniques, including a discounted estimate of future cash flows.
Nature of Operations	Nature of Operations International Flavors & Fragrances Inc. and its subsidiaries (the “Registrant,” “IFF,” “the Company,” “we,” “us” and “our”) is a leading creator and manufacturer of food, beverage, health & biosciences, scent and pharma solutions and complementary adjacent products, including cosmetic active and natural health ingredients, which are used in a wide variety of consumer products. Our products are sold principally to manufacturers of perfumes and cosmetics, hair and other personal care products, soaps and detergents, cleaning products, dairy, meat and other processed foods, beverages, snacks and savory foods, sweet and baked goods, sweeteners, dietary supplements, food protection, infant and elderly nutrition, functional food, and pharmaceutical excipients and oral care products.
Reporting Periods	Reporting Periods Effective 2021, the Company changed its fiscal year end from a 52/53-week fiscal year ending on the Friday closest to the last day of the quarter, to a calendar year of the twelve-month period from January 1 to December 31. The Company elected to change its fiscal year end in connection with the Merger with N&B to align the Company’s fiscal year with N&B’s. For the 2020 comparative quarter presented, the actual closing date was April 3. For ease of presentation, March 31 and December 31 are used consistently throughout this Form 10-Q and these interim financial statements and related notes to represent the period-end dates in the comparative periods. The three months ended March 31, 2021 contained three fewer business days than the corresponding period in 2020, however the impact of this on revenue and net loss was not material.

Nature of Operations and Summary of Significant Accounting Policies (Policies)

3 Months Ended

Mar. 31, 2021

These interim financial statements and related management’s discussion and analysis should be read in conjunction with the Consolidated Financial Statements and the related notes and management’s discussion and analysis of results of operations, liquidity and capital resources included in our 2020 Annual Report on Form 10-K (“2020 Form 10-K”). These interim financial statements are unaudited. The year-end balance sheet data included in this Form 10-Q was derived from audited financial statements, but does not include all disclosures required by generally accepted accounting principles in the United States of America.

On February 1, 2021 (the “Closing Date”), the Company completed the combination (the "Merger") of IFF and DuPont de Numerous, Inc (“DuPont”) nutrition and biosciences business (the “N&B Business”), which had been transferred to Nutrition and Biosciences, Inc., a Delaware corporation and wholly owned subsidiary of DuPont ("N&B") in a Reverse Morris Trust transaction. See Note 3 for additional information. As a result, the Company’s consolidated financial statements for the three months ended March 31, 2021 reflects the results of N&B from the Closing Date, whereas the Company’s consolidated financial statements for the three months ended March 31, 2020 do not.

In the current year, the Company has changed its presentation from thousands to millions and, as a result, any necessary rounding adjustments have been made to prior year disclosed amounts.

Use of Estimates

The preparation of financial statements in conformity with U.S. generally accepted accounting principles (“U.S. GAAP”) requires management to make estimates and judgments that affect the amounts reported in the Consolidated Financial Statements and accompanying notes. The inputs into our judgments and estimates take into account the current economic implications of the novel coronavirus ("COVID-19") on our critical and significant accounting estimates, including estimates associated with future cash flows that are used in assessing the risk of impairment of certain long-lived assets. Actual results could differ from those estimates.

Recent Accounting Pronouncements

In January 2021, the FASB issued Accounting Standards Update ("ASU") 2021-01, "Reference Rate Reform (Topic 848): Scope." The ASU is intended to provide updates and responses to concerns over Topic 848 related to the cessation of reference rates in certain financial markets. Alternative reference rates that are more observable or transaction based have been identified and are being transitioned to in numerous jurisdictions globally, such as a receive-variable-rate, pay-variable-rate cross currency interest rate swap. This guidance is effective immediately for all entities, but does not apply to any contract modifications or new hedging relationships entered into after December 31, 2022. The Company is currently evaluating the impact of this guidance, but does not expect this guidance to have a material impact on its Consolidated Financial Statements.

In March 2020, the FASB issued ASU 2020-04, “Reference Rate Reform (Topic 848): Facilitation of the Effects of Reference Rate Reform on Financial Reporting.” The ASU is intended to simplify various aspects related to the cessation of reference rates in certain financial markets that would otherwise create modification accounting or changes in estimate. This guidance is effective for the period from March 12, 2020 to December 31, 2022. The Company has not adopted any of the optional expedients or exceptions through March 31, 2021 but will continue to evaluate the possible adoption of any such expedients or exceptions during the effective period as circumstances evolve.

In December 2019, the FASB issued ASU 2019-12, “Income Taxes (Topic 740): Simplifying the Accounting for Income Taxes.” The ASU is intended to simplify various aspects related to accounting for income taxes. This guidance is effective for fiscal years beginning after December 15, 2020, and for interim periods within those fiscal years, with early adoption permitted. This guidance was adopted on January 2, 2021 and does not have a material impact on the Company's Consolidated Financial Statements.

Receivable

Accounts Receivable

The Company has various factoring agreements in the U.S. and The Netherlands under which it can factor up to approximately $100 million in receivables. In addition, the Company has factoring agreements sponsored by certain customers. Under all of the arrangements, the Company sells the receivables on a non-recourse basis to unrelated financial institutions and accounts for the transactions as a sale of receivables. The applicable receivables are removed from the Company's Consolidated Balance Sheet when the cash proceeds are received by the Company.

Through these factoring programs, the Company removed $304 million and $249 million of receivables from its balance sheets as of March 31, 2021 and December 31, 2020, respectively, which are primarily related to the factoring agreements sponsored by certain customers.

The impact on cash provided by operations from participating in these programs was an increase of $55 million for the three months ended March 31, 2021 and a decrease of $5 million for the three months ended March 31, 2020.

The cost of participating in these programs was approximately $1 million for both the three months ended March 31, 2021 and 2020.

Revenue

Revenue Recognition

The Company recognizes revenue when control of the promised goods is transferred to its customers in an amount that reflects the consideration it expects to be entitled to in exchange for those goods. Sales, value added, and other taxes the Company collects are excluded from revenues. The Company receives payment in accordance with standard customer terms. See Note 11 for further details on revenues disaggregated by segment.

Property, Plant and Equipment, Policy

Property, Plant and Equipment Property, plant and equipment are recorded at cost. Depreciation is calculated on a straight-line basis, principally over the following estimated useful lives: buildings and improvements, 1 to 50 years; machinery and equipment, 1 to 40 years; information technology hardware and software, 1 to 23 years; and leasehold improvements which are included in buildings and improvements, the estimated life of the improvements or the remaining term of the lease, whichever is shorter.

Goodwill and Intangible Assets, Intangible Assets, Policy

Finite-Lived Intangible Assets Finite-lived intangible assets include customer relationships, patents, trade names, technological know-how and other intellectual property valued at acquisition and amortized on a straight-line basis over the following estimated useful lives: customer relationships, 11 – 25 years; patents, 11 - 15 years; trade names, 4 - 28 years; and technological know-how, 5 - 28 years.

The Company reviews long-lived assets for impairment when events or changes in business conditions indicate that their carrying value may not be recovered. An estimate of undiscounted future cash flows produced by an asset or group of assets is compared to the carrying value to determine whether impairment exists. If assets are determined to be impaired, the loss is measured based on an estimate of fair value using various valuation techniques, including a discounted estimate of future cash flows.

Nature of Operations

International Flavors & Fragrances Inc. and its subsidiaries (the “Registrant,” “IFF,” “the Company,” “we,” “us” and “our”) is a leading creator and manufacturer of food, beverage, health & biosciences, scent and pharma solutions and complementary adjacent products, including cosmetic active and natural health ingredients, which are used in a wide variety of consumer products. Our products are sold principally to manufacturers of perfumes and cosmetics, hair and other personal care products, soaps and detergents, cleaning products, dairy, meat and other processed foods, beverages, snacks and savory foods, sweet and baked goods, sweeteners, dietary supplements, food protection, infant and elderly nutrition, functional food, and pharmaceutical excipients and oral care products.

Reporting Periods

Effective 2021, the Company changed its fiscal year end from a 52/53-week fiscal year ending on the Friday closest to the last day of the quarter, to a calendar year of the twelve-month period from January 1 to December 31. The Company elected to change its fiscal year end in connection with the Merger with N&B to align the Company’s fiscal year with N&B’s. For the 2020 comparative quarter presented, the actual closing date was April 3. For ease of presentation, March 31 and December 31 are used consistently throughout this Form 10-Q and these interim financial statements and related notes to represent the period-end dates in the comparative periods. The three months ended March 31, 2021 contained three fewer business days than the corresponding period in 2020, however the impact of this on revenue and net loss was not material.