Description of Business and Summary of Significant Accounting Policies	9 Months Ended
Feb. 01, 2020
Organization, Consolidation and Presentation of Financial Statements [Abstract]
Description of Business and Summary of Significant Accounting Policies	Description of Business and Summary of Significant Accounting Policies Description of Business Methode Electronics, Inc. (the "Company" or "Methode") is a global developer of custom engineered and application specific products and solutions with manufacturing, design and testing facilities in Belgium, Canada, China, Egypt, Germany, India, Italy, Lebanon, Malta, Mexico, the Netherlands, Singapore, Switzerland, the United Kingdom and the United States. The Company's primary manufacturing facilities are located in Dongguan and Shanghai, China; Cairo, Egypt; Mriehel, Malta; and Fresnillo and Monterrey, Mexico. The Company designs, manufactures and markets devices employing electrical, radio remote control, electronic, LED lighting, wireless and sensing technologies. Basis of Presentation The unaudited condensed consolidated financial statements of the Company have been prepared in accordance with the rules and regulations of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC"). All intercompany balances and transactions have been eliminated in consolidation. Certain information and footnote disclosures normally included in financial statements prepared in accordance with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States ("GAAP") have been condensed or omitted pursuant to such rules and regulations. These interim condensed consolidated financial statements include all adjustments (consisting of normal recurring adjustments, except as otherwise disclosed) that management believes are necessary for a fair presentation of the results of operations, financial position and cash flows of the Company for the interim periods presented. These financial statements should be read in conjunction with the consolidated financial statements included in the Company's Form 10-K for the year ended April 27, 2019, filed with the SEC on June 20, 2019. Results may vary from quarter-to-quarter for reasons other than seasonality. Financial Reporting Periods The Company maintains its financial records on the basis of a 52- or 53-week fiscal year ending on the Saturday closest to April 30. For the three months ended February 1, 2020, the Company's accounting period included 14 weeks compared to 13 weeks for the three months ended January 26, 2019. For the nine months ended February 1, 2020, the Company's accounting period included 40 weeks compared to 39 weeks for the nine months ended January 26, 2019. The following discussions of comparative results among periods should be reviewed in this context. Reclassifications The Company has reclassified certain prior period amounts in the condensed consolidated financial statements and in the accompanying notes to conform with current year presentation. Use of Estimates The preparation of financial statements in accordance with GAAP requires management to make estimates and assumptions that affect the amounts reported in the condensed consolidated financial statements and the accompanying notes. Actual results could differ from these estimates. Change in Presentation During the second quarter of fiscal 2019, the Company changed its reportable segments. Refer to Note 11 “Segment Information,” for further discussion on the impact of the change. Summary of Significant Accounting Policies The Company’s significant accounting policies are described in Note 1, "Description of Business and Summary of Significant Accounting Policies," to the consolidated financial statements included in the Company's Form 10-K for the year ended April 27, 2019. There have been no material changes to the significant accounting policies in the nine months ended February 1, 2020 other than those noted below. Recently Adopted Accounting Pronouncements In February 2016, the Financial Accounting Standards Board ("FASB") issued Accounting Standards Update ("ASU") 2016-02, “Leases,” which amended authoritative guidance on leases and is codified in Accounting Standards Codification ("ASC") 842. The amended guidance requires entities to record most leased assets and liabilities on the balance sheet, and also retains a dual model approach for assessing lease classification and recognizing expense. The FASB subsequently issued updates to provide clarification on specific topics, including adoption guidance, practical expedients and interim transition disclosure requirements. The Company adopted the standard on April 28, 2019, by applying the modified retrospective method without restatement of comparative periods' financial information, as permitted by the transition guidance. Accordingly, the Company has provided disclosures required by prior lease guidance for comparative periods. The adoption of this standard resulted in the recognition of right-of-use assets of $27.6 million and related lease obligations of $28.1 million as of April 28, 2019. The standard did not have a significant impact on the Company's operating results or cash flows. The Company elected certain practical expedients, including the election not to reassess its prior conclusions about lease identification, lease classification and initial direct costs, as well as the election not to separate lease and non-lease components for arrangements where the Company is a lessee. Lastly, the Company elected to recognize a right-of-use asset and related lease liability for leases with a lease term of 12 months or less for all classes of underlying assets. The Company determines if an arrangement contains a lease at inception. Operating lease expense is recognized on a straight-line basis over the lease term. For purposes of calculating operating lease obligations under the standard, the Company's lease terms may include options to extend or terminate the lease when it is reasonably certain that the Company will exercise such option. The Company's leases do not contain material residual value guarantees or material restrictive covenants. The discount rate used to measure a lease obligation should be the rate implicit in the lease; however, the Company’s operating leases generally do not provide an implicit rate. Accordingly, the Company uses its incremental borrowing rate at lease commencement to determine the present value of lease payments. The incremental borrowing rate is an entity-specific rate which represents the rate of interest a lessee would pay to borrow on a collateralized basis over a similar term with similar payments. Refer to Note 3, "Leases," for additional information. In February 2018, the FASB issued ASU No. 2018-02, "Income Statement-Reporting Comprehensive Income (Topic 220): Reclassification of Certain Tax Effects from Accumulated Other Comprehensive Income." The amendments in this update allow a reclassification from accumulated other comprehensive income to retained earnings for stranded tax effects resulting from U.S. Tax Reform’s reduction of the U.S. federal corporate income tax rate. The Company adopted ASU 2018-02 as of April 28, 2019 and the adoption had no impact on the Company’s consolidated financial statements. New Accounting Pronouncements Not Yet Adopted In June 2016, the FASB issued ASU 2016-13, “Financial Instruments-Credit Losses (Topic 326) - Measurement of Credit Losses on Financial Instruments.” The guidance in ASU 2016-13 requires the measurement and recognition of expected credit losses for financial assets held at amortized cost. It replaces the existing incurred loss impairment model with an expected loss methodology, which will result in more timely recognition of credit losses. This guidance is effective for fiscal years beginning after December 15, 2019, with early adoption permitted. Management is currently assessing the impact of the new standard, but does not anticipate that the adoption of this standard will have a material impact on the way it estimates the allowance for doubtful accounts on its trade accounts receivable. In August 2018, the FASB issued ASU 2018-15, "Intangibles—Goodwill and Other—Internal-Use Software (Subtopic 350-40): Customer’s Accounting for Implementation Costs Incurred in a Cloud Computing Arrangement That Is a Service Contract." The guidance in ASU 2018-15 clarifies the accounting for implementation costs in cloud computing arrangements. This guidance is effective for fiscal years, and interim periods within those years, beginning after December 15, 2019, with early adoption permitted. The Company is evaluating the impact of adopting this new accounting guidance on its consolidated financial statements. In August 2018, the FASB issued ASU 2018-13, “Fair Value Measurement (Topic 820) – Disclosure Framework – Changes to the Disclosure Requirements for Fair Value Measurement." The guidance in ASU 2018-13 changes disclosure requirements related to fair value measurements as part of the disclosure framework project. The disclosure framework project aims to improve the effectiveness of disclosures in the notes to the financial statements by focusing on requirements that clearly communicate the most important information to users of the financial statements. This guidance is effective for fiscal years, and interim periods within those years, beginning after December 15, 2019, with early adoption permitted. The Company is evaluating the provisions of the updated guidance and assessing the impact on its consolidated financial statements. In December 2019, the FASB issued ASU 2019-12, "Income Taxes - Simplifying the Accounting for Income Taxes (Topic 740)," which simplifies the accounting for income taxes. The new guidance removes certain exceptions to the general principles in ASC 740, such as recognizing deferred taxes for equity investments, the incremental approach to performing intra-period tax allocation and calculating income taxes in interim periods. The standard also simplifies accounting for income taxes under GAAP by clarifying and amending existing guidance, including the recognition of deferred taxes for goodwill, the allocation of taxes to members of a consolidated group and requiring that an entity reflect the effect of enacted changes in tax laws or rates in the annual effective tax rate computation in the interim period that includes the enactment date. This guidance is effective for annual periods beginning after December 15, 2020, and interim periods thereafter; however, early adoption is permitted. The Company is evaluating the provisions of the updated guidance and assessing the impact on its consolidated financial statements.

Methode Electronics, Inc. (the "Company" or "Methode") is a global developer of custom engineered and application specific products and solutions with manufacturing, design and testing facilities in Belgium, Canada, China, Egypt, Germany, India, Italy, Lebanon, Malta, Mexico, the Netherlands, Singapore, Switzerland, the United Kingdom and the United States. The Company's primary manufacturing facilities are located in Dongguan and Shanghai, China; Cairo, Egypt; Mriehel, Malta; and Fresnillo and Monterrey, Mexico. The Company designs, manufactures and markets devices employing electrical, radio remote control, electronic, LED lighting, wireless and sensing technologies.

The unaudited condensed consolidated financial statements of the Company have been prepared in accordance with the rules and regulations of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC"). All intercompany balances and transactions have been eliminated in consolidation. Certain information and footnote disclosures normally included in financial statements prepared in accordance with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States ("GAAP") have been condensed or omitted pursuant to such rules and regulations. These interim condensed consolidated financial statements include all adjustments (consisting of normal recurring adjustments, except as otherwise disclosed) that management believes are necessary for a fair presentation of the results of operations, financial position and cash flows of the Company for the interim periods presented. These financial statements should be read in conjunction with the consolidated financial statements included in the Company's Form 10-K for the year ended April 27, 2019, filed with the SEC on June 20, 2019. Results may vary from quarter-to-quarter for reasons other than seasonality.

The Company maintains its financial records on the basis of a 52- or 53-week fiscal year ending on the Saturday closest to April 30. For the three months ended February 1, 2020, the Company's accounting period included 14 weeks compared to 13 weeks for the three months ended January 26, 2019. For the nine months ended February 1, 2020, the Company's accounting period included 40 weeks compared to 39 weeks for the nine months ended January 26, 2019. The following discussions of comparative results among periods should be reviewed in this context.

The preparation of financial statements in accordance with GAAP requires management to make estimates and assumptions that affect the amounts reported in the condensed consolidated financial statements and the accompanying notes. Actual results could differ from these estimates.

The Company’s significant accounting policies are described in Note 1, "Description of Business and Summary of Significant Accounting Policies," to the consolidated financial statements included in the Company's Form 10-K for the year ended April 27, 2019. There have been no material changes to the significant accounting policies in the nine months ended February 1, 2020 other than those noted below.

In February 2016, the Financial Accounting Standards Board ("FASB") issued Accounting Standards Update ("ASU") 2016-02, “Leases,” which amended authoritative guidance on leases and is codified in Accounting Standards Codification ("ASC") 842. The amended guidance requires entities to record most leased assets and liabilities on the balance sheet, and also retains a dual model approach for assessing lease classification and recognizing expense. The FASB subsequently issued updates to provide clarification on specific topics, including adoption guidance, practical expedients and interim transition disclosure requirements.

The Company adopted the standard on April 28, 2019, by applying the modified retrospective method without restatement of comparative periods' financial information, as permitted by the transition guidance. Accordingly, the Company has provided disclosures required by prior lease guidance for comparative periods. The adoption of this standard resulted in the recognition of right-of-use assets of $27.6 million and related lease obligations of $28.1 million as of April 28, 2019. The standard did not have a significant impact on the Company's operating results or cash flows.

The Company elected certain practical expedients, including the election not to reassess its prior conclusions about lease identification, lease classification and initial direct costs, as well as the election not to separate lease and non-lease components for arrangements where the Company is a lessee. Lastly, the Company elected to recognize a right-of-use asset and related lease liability for leases with a lease term of 12 months or less for all classes of underlying assets. The Company determines if an arrangement contains a lease at inception. Operating lease expense is recognized on a straight-line basis over the lease term.

For purposes of calculating operating lease obligations under the standard, the Company's lease terms may include options to extend or terminate the lease when it is reasonably certain that the Company will exercise such option. The Company's leases do not contain material residual value guarantees or material restrictive covenants. The discount rate used to measure a lease obligation should be the rate implicit in the lease; however, the Company’s operating leases generally do not provide an implicit rate. Accordingly, the Company uses its incremental borrowing rate at lease commencement to determine the present value of lease payments. The incremental borrowing rate is an entity-specific rate which represents the rate of interest a lessee would pay to borrow on a collateralized basis over a similar term with similar payments. Refer to Note 3, "Leases," for additional information.

In February 2018, the FASB issued ASU No. 2018-02, "Income Statement-Reporting Comprehensive Income (Topic 220): Reclassification of Certain Tax Effects from Accumulated Other Comprehensive Income." The amendments in this update allow a reclassification from accumulated other comprehensive income to retained earnings for stranded tax effects resulting from U.S. Tax Reform’s reduction of the U.S. federal corporate income tax rate. The Company adopted ASU 2018-02 as of April 28, 2019 and the adoption had no impact on the Company’s consolidated financial statements.

In June 2016, the FASB issued ASU 2016-13, “Financial Instruments-Credit Losses (Topic 326) - Measurement of Credit Losses on Financial Instruments.” The guidance in ASU 2016-13 requires the measurement and recognition of expected credit losses for financial assets held at amortized cost. It replaces the existing incurred loss impairment model with an expected loss methodology, which will result in more timely recognition of credit losses. This guidance is effective for fiscal years beginning after December 15, 2019, with early adoption permitted. Management is currently assessing the impact of the new standard, but does not anticipate that the adoption of this standard will have a material impact on the way it estimates the allowance for doubtful accounts on its trade accounts receivable.

In August 2018, the FASB issued ASU 2018-15, "Intangibles—Goodwill and Other—Internal-Use Software (Subtopic 350-40): Customer’s Accounting for Implementation Costs Incurred in a Cloud Computing Arrangement That Is a Service Contract." The guidance in ASU 2018-15 clarifies the accounting for implementation costs in cloud computing arrangements. This guidance is effective for fiscal years, and interim periods within those years, beginning after December 15, 2019, with early adoption permitted. The Company is evaluating the impact of adopting this new accounting guidance on its consolidated financial statements.

Framework – Changes to the Disclosure Requirements for Fair Value Measurement." The guidance in ASU 2018-13 changes disclosure requirements related to fair value measurements as part of the disclosure framework project. The disclosure framework project aims to improve the effectiveness of disclosures in the notes to the financial statements by focusing on requirements that clearly communicate the most important information to users of the financial statements. This guidance is effective for fiscal years, and interim periods within those years, beginning after December 15, 2019, with early adoption permitted. The Company is evaluating the provisions of the updated guidance and assessing the impact on its consolidated financial statements.

In December 2019, the FASB issued ASU 2019-12, "Income Taxes - Simplifying the Accounting for Income Taxes (Topic 740)," which simplifies the accounting for income taxes. The new guidance removes certain exceptions to the general principles in ASC 740, such as recognizing deferred taxes for equity investments, the incremental approach to performing intra-period tax allocation and calculating income taxes in interim periods. The standard also simplifies accounting for income taxes under GAAP by clarifying and amending existing guidance, including the recognition of deferred taxes for goodwill, the allocation of taxes to members of a consolidated group and requiring that an entity reflect the effect of enacted changes in tax laws or rates in the annual effective tax rate computation in the interim period that includes the enactment date. This guidance is effective for annual periods beginning after December 15, 2020, and interim periods thereafter; however, early adoption is permitted. The Company is evaluating the provisions of the updated guidance and assessing the impact on its consolidated financial statements.