Principles of Consolidation

As used in this report, the term “Company,” except as otherwise indicated by the context, means Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. and its wholly-owned and majority-owned subsidiaries for which it has a controlling interest.

The consolidated financial statements include the accounts of all legal entities in which the Company holds a controlling interest. The Company is also considered to have a controlling interest in a variable interest entity (“VIE”) if the Company determines it is the primary beneficiary of the VIE. Investments in legal entities in which the Company does not own a majority interest but has the ability to exercise significant influence over operating and financial policies are accounted for using the equity method.

The accompanying unaudited consolidated financial statements have been prepared in accordance with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States (“GAAP”) for interim financial information and with the instructions to Form 10-Q and Article 10 of Regulation S-X. Accordingly, these unaudited consolidated financial statements do not include all of the information and notes required by GAAP for complete financial statements. However, in the opinion of management, these unaudited consolidated financial statements contain all the adjustments (consisting of normal recurring accruals) considered necessary to present fairly the financial position, results of operations and cash flows for the interim periods. Operating results for the three months ended March 31, 2017 are not necessarily indicative of the results to be expected for the year ending December 31, 2017.

The accompanying Consolidated Balance Sheet at December 31, 2016 has been derived from the audited financial statements at that date, but does not include all of the information and notes required by GAAP for complete financial statements. For further information, refer to the consolidated financial statements and notes thereto included in the Company’s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2016.

Certain reclassifications have been made to the prior year financial statements to conform to current year classifications.

Effective June 30, 2016, the Company concluded that it no longer met the accounting criteria for control over its Venezuelan subsidiary based on deteriorating conditions in Venezuela; therefore, the Company deconsolidated the financial statements of the Venezuelan subsidiary and began reporting the results under the cost method of accounting. As a result, beginning July 1, 2016, the Company no longer includes the results of the Venezuelan subsidiary in its consolidated financial statements. Under the cost method of accounting, if cash were to be received from the Venezuela entity in future periods from the sale of inventory, dividends or royalties, income would be recognized. The Company does not anticipate dividend or royalty payments being made in the foreseeable future and has no outstanding receivables or payables with the Venezuelan entity. The factors that led to the Company’s conclusion to deconsolidate at June 30, 2016 continued to exist through March 31, 2017. The Company expects these conditions to continue for the foreseeable future. Additionally, the Company has no remaining financial commitments to the Venezuelan subsidiary and therefore believes the exposure to future losses is not material.

The following section provides a description of new accounting pronouncements ("Accounting Standard Update" or "ASU") issued by the Financial Accounting Standards Board ("FASB") that are applicable to the Company.

New Accounting Pronouncements Adopted:

In March 2016, the FASB issued ASU No. 2016-09, "Compensation - Stock Compensation (Topic 718): Improvements to Employee Share-Based Payment Accounting." ASU 2016-09 amends several aspects of the accounting for share-based payment transactions including the income tax consequences, classification of awards as either equity or liabilities and classification on the statement of cash flows. The Company adopted ASU 2016-09 effective January 1, 2017.

ASU 2016-09 requires prospective recognition of excess tax benefits and deficiencies resulting from stock-based compensation awards vesting and exercises be recognized as a discrete income tax adjustment in the income statement. Previously, these amounts were recognized in Additional paid-in capital. Net excess tax benefits of $1,272 for the three months ended March 31, 2017 were recognized as a reduction of income tax expense. In addition, ASU 2016-09 requires excess tax benefits and deficiencies to be prospectively excluded from the assumed future proceeds in the calculation of diluted shares, resulting in an insignificant increase in diluted weighted average shares outstanding for the three months ended March 31, 2017 and an immaterial impact on earnings per share.

ASU 2016-09 requires that excess tax benefits from share based compensation awards be reported as operating activities in the Consolidated Statements of Cash Flows. Previously, this activity was included in financing activities on the Consolidated Statement of Cash Flows. The Company has elected to apply this change on a retrospective basis. As a result, excess tax benefits of $1,272 are reported as Net cash provided by operating activities for the three months ended March 31, 2017, and $357 of excess tax benefits were reclassified from Net cash used by financing activities to Net cash provided by operating activities for the three months ended March 31, 2016.

ASU 2016-09 requires that employee taxes paid when an employer withholds shares for tax-withholding purposes be reported as financing activities in the Consolidated Statements of Cash Flows on a retrospective basis. Previously, this activity was included in operating activities. The impact of this change was immaterial to the Consolidated Statements of Cash Flows.

The Company has elected to continue to estimate the number of stock-based awards expected to vest, as permitted by ASU 2016-09, rather than electing to account for forfeitures as they occur.

New Accounting Pronouncements to be adopted:

In May 2014, the FASB issued ASU No. 2014-09, "Revenue from Contracts with Customers (Topic 606)." ASU 2014-09 requires an entity to recognize revenue in a manner that depicts the transfer of promised goods or services to customers in an amount that reflects the consideration to which the entity expects to be entitled in exchange for those goods or services. The amendment also specifies the accounting of some costs to obtain or fulfill a contract with a customer and expands the disclosure requirements around contracts with customers. In August 2015, the FASB issued ASU 2015-14, "Revenue from Contracts with Customers (Topic 606): Deferral of the Effective Date," which deferred the effective date of ASU 2014-09 to annual reporting periods beginning after December 15, 2017, and interim periods within those fiscal years. Early adoption is permitted as of annual reporting periods beginning after December 15, 2016. An entity can either adopt this amendment retrospectively to each prior reporting period presented or retrospectively with the cumulative effect of initially applying the update recognized at the date of initial application. To evaluate the impact of adopting this new guidance on the consolidated financial statements, the Company completed a scoping analysis of revenue streams against the requirements of the standard. In addition, the Company is in the process of reviewing customer contracts, as well as identifying and implementing changes to processes and controls to meet the standard’s reporting and disclosure requirements. ASU 2014-09 will accelerate the timing of when certain transactions are recognized as revenue upon adoption of the guidance’s control model. The Company is currently evaluating the impact of the adoption of ASU 2014-09.

The Company is currently evaluating the impact on its financial statements of the following ASUs:



Standard	Description
ASU No. 2017-07, Compensation - Retirement Benefits (Topic 715): Improving the Presentation of Net Period Pension Cost and Net Periodic Postretirement Benefit Cost, issued March 2017.	ASU 2017-07 requires an entity to report the service cost component of the net periodic benefit cost in the same income statement line item as other employee compensation costs. The other components of the net periodic benefit cost are required to be presented in the income statement separately from the service cost component and outside of any subtotal of operating income. Additionally, only the service cost component will be eligible for capitalization in assets. The ASU is effective January 1, 2018, early adoption is permitted and the ASU should be applied retrospectively for the presentation of the service cost component and the other components of net periodic pension cost in the income statement and prospectively for the capitalization of the service cost component.
ASU No. 2017-04, Goodwill and Other (Topic 350): Simplifying the Test for Goodwill Impairment, issued January 2017.	ASU 2017-04 simplifies the subsequent measurement of goodwill by eliminating Step 2 from the goodwill impairment test. Under this ASU, an entity should perform the Step 1 annual, or interim, goodwill impairment test by comparing the fair value of a reporting unit with its carrying amount. If the carrying amount exceeds the fair value, an entity should recognize an impairment charge for the amount by which the carrying amount exceeds the reporting unit’s fair value, not to exceed the total amount of goodwill allocated to that reporting unit. An entity still has the option to perform the qualitative assessment for a reporting unit to determine if the quantitative impairment test is necessary. The ASU is effective January 1, 2020, early adoption is permitted and the ASU should be applied prospectively.
ASU No. 2017-01, Business Combinations (Topic 805): Clarifying the Definition of a Business, issued January 2017.	ASU 2017-01 provides updated guidance for evaluating whether certain transactions should be accounted for as an acquisition (or disposal) of an asset or a business. The ASU is effective January 1, 2018, early adoption is permitted and the ASU should be applied prospectively.
ASU No. 2016-18, Statement of Cash Flows(Topic 230): Restricted Cash, issued November 2016.	ASU 2016-18 requires amounts generally described as restricted cash and restricted cash equivalents be included with cash and cash equivalents when reconciling the beginning-of-period and end-of-period total amounts shown on the statement of cash flows. The ASU is effective January 1, 2018, early adoption is permitted and the ASU should be applied retrospectively.
ASU No. 2016-16, Income Taxes (Topic 740): Intra-Entity Transfers of Assets Other Than Inventory, issued October 2016.	ASU 2016-16 requires an entity to recognize the income tax consequences of an intra-entity transfer of an asset other than inventory when the transfer occurs. The ASU is effective January 1, 2018, early adoption is permitted and the ASU should be applied using a modified retrospective approach, through a cumulative-effect adjustment directly to retained earnings, as of the beginning of the period of adoption.
ASU 2016-15, Statement of Cash Flows (Topic 230): Classification of Certain Cash Receipts and Cash Payments, issued August 2016.	ASU 2016-15 reduces existing diversity in practice by addressing eight specific cash flow issues related to how certain cash receipts and cash payments are presented and classified in the statement of cash flows. The ASU is effective January 1, 2018, early adoption is permitted and the ASU should be applied retrospectively (or prospectively as of earliest date practicable).
ASU No. 2016-02, Leases (Topic 842), issued February 2016.	ASU 2016-02 aims to increase transparency and comparability among organizations by recognizing lease assets and lease liabilities on the balance sheet and requiring disclosure of key information about leasing agreements. Entities are required to recognize and measure leases at the beginning of the earliest period presented using a modified retrospective approach. The ASU is effective January 1, 2019, early adoption is permitted and the ASU should be applied using either a modified retrospective or modified retrospective with practical expedients approach.