Summary of Significant Accounting Policies

9 Months Ended

Sep. 30, 2019

Summary of Significant Accounting Policies

2. Summary of Significant Accounting Policies

(All Registrants)

The following accounting policy disclosures represent updates to Note 1 in each Registrant's 2018 Form 10-K and should be read in conjunction with those disclosures.

Restricted Cash and Cash Equivalents (PPL and PPL Electric)

Reconciliation of Cash, Cash Equivalents and Restricted Cash

The following provides a reconciliation of Cash, Cash Equivalents and Restricted Cash reported within the Balance Sheets that sum to the total of the same amounts shown on the Statements of Cash Flows:



	PPL				PPL Electric
	September 30, 2019		December 31, 2018		September 30, 2019		December 31, 2018
Cash and cash equivalents	$	670	$	621	$	27	$	267
Restricted cash - current (a)	3		3		2		2
Restricted cash - noncurrent (a)	17		19		—		—
Total Cash, Cash Equivalents and Restricted Cash	$	690	$	643	$	29	$	269


(a)	Bank deposits and other cash equivalents that are restricted by agreement or that have been clearly designated for a specific purpose are classified as restricted cash. On the Balance Sheets, the current portion of restricted cash is included in "Other current assets," while the noncurrent portion is included in "Other noncurrent assets."

New Accounting Guidance Adopted

(All Registrants)

Accounting for Leases

Effective January 1, 2019, the Registrants adopted accounting guidance that requires lessees to recognize a right-of-use asset and lease liability for leases, unless determined to meet the definition of a short-term lease. For income statement purposes, the FASB retained a dual model for lessees, requiring leases to be classified as either operating or finance. Operating leases result in straight-line expense recognition. Currently, all Registrant leases are operating leases.

Lessor accounting under the new guidance is similar to the current model, but updated to align with certain changes to the lessee model and current revenue recognition guidance. Lessors classify leases as operating, direct financing, or sales-type.

In adopting this new guidance, the Registrants elected to use the following practical expedients:


•	The Registrants did not re-assess the lease classifications or initial direct costs of existing leases. The Registrants also did not re-assess existing contracts for leases or lease classification.


•	The Registrants did not evaluate land easements that were not previously accounted for as leases under the new guidance. New land easements are evaluated under the new guidance beginning January 1, 2019.

See Note 9 for the required disclosures resulting from the adoption of the new guidance.

(PPL, LKE, LG&E & KU)

The following table shows the amounts recorded on the Balance Sheets as of January 1, 2019 as a result of the adoption of the new lease guidance using a modified retrospective transition method with transition applied as of the beginning of the period of adoption:



	PPL		LKE		LG&E		KU
Right-of-Use Asset (a)	$	81	$	56	$	23	$	31
Lease Liability- Current (b)	23		18		9		9
Lease Liability- Noncurrent (c)	67		46		18		26


(a)	Right-of-Use Assets are recorded in "Other noncurrent assets" on the Balance Sheets.


(b)	Current lease liabilities are recorded in "Other current liabilities" on the Balance Sheets.


(c)	Noncurrent lease liabilities are recorded in "Other deferred credits and noncurrent liabilities" on the Balance Sheets.

(All Registrants)

Improvements to Accounting for Hedging Activities

Effective January 1, 2019, the Registrants adopted accounting guidance, using a modified retrospective approach, which reduces complexity when applying hedge accounting as well as improves the transparency of an entity's risk management activities. This guidance eliminates the separate measurement and reporting of hedge ineffectiveness for cash flow and net investment hedges and provides for the ability to perform subsequent qualitative effectiveness assessments. The guidance also allows entities to apply the short-cut method to partial-term fair value hedges of interest rate risk as well as expands the ability to apply the critical terms match method to cash flow hedges of groups of forecasted transactions.

See Note 15 for the additional disclosures of the income statement impacts of hedging activities required from the adoption of this guidance. Disclosures related to ineffectiveness are no longer required. Other impacts of adopting this guidance were not material.