Significant Accounting Policies (Policies)

9 Months Ended

Sep. 30, 2021

The interim consolidated financial statements are unaudited but, in the opinion of management, reflect all adjustments necessary for a fair statement of the Company’s consolidated financial position, results of operations and cash flows for the periods presented. These adjustments consist of normal, recurring items. The results of operations for any interim period are not necessarily indicative of results for the full year. The interim consolidated financial statements and notes are presented as permitted by the requirements for Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q. This Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q should be read in conjunction with the Company’s consolidated financial statements and notes included in its Annual Report on Form 10-K.

Effective in the first quarter of 2021, 3M made the following changes. Information provided herein reflects the impact of these changes for all periods presented.

•Change in accounting principle for net periodic pension and postretirement plan cost. See below for additional information.

•Change in measure of segment operating performance used by 3M’s chief operating decision maker—impacting 3M’s disclosed measure of segment profit/loss (business segment operating income). See additional information in Note 16.

•Change in alignment of certain products within 3M’s Consumer business segment—creating the Consumer Health and Safety Division. See additional information in Note 16.

Change in Accounting Principle for Determining Net Periodic Pension and Postretirement Plan Cost

In the first quarter of 2021, 3M changed the method it uses to calculate the market-related value of fixed income securities included in its pension and other postretirement plan assets. The market-related value is used to determine the expected return on plan assets and the amortization of net unamortized actuarial gains or losses expense components of net periodic benefit cost. The Company previously used the calculated value approach for all plan assets, deferring over three years the impact on these amounts of asset gains or losses that differed from expected returns. 3M changed to the fair value approach for calculating market-related value for the fixed income class of plan assets, which does not involve deferring the impact of excess plan asset gains or losses in the determination of these two components of net periodic benefit cost. 3M considers the use of the fair value approach preferable to the calculated value approach as it results in a more current reflection of impacts of changes in value of these plan assets in the determination of net periodic benefit cost. Additionally, given the plans’ liability-driven investment strategy whereby the changes in value of the fixed income plan assets should offset changes in the value of the plans’ liabilities, this approach more closely aligns the expected return on plan assets expense component with the value reflected in the plans’ funded status. This change was applied retrospectively to all periods presented within 3M’s financial statements. The change did not impact consolidated operating income or net cash provided by operating activities but did impact the previously reported portion of pension and postretirement net periodic benefit cost (benefit) that was included within non-operating other expense (income) along with related consolidated income items such as net income and earnings per share. Other impacts included related changes to previously reported consolidated other comprehensive income, retained earnings, accumulated other comprehensive income (loss), and associated line items within the determination of net cash provided by operating activities. For classes of plan assets other than fixed income investments, the Company continues to use the calculated value approach to determine their market-related value.

Earnings Per Share

Earnings Per ShareThe difference in the weighted average 3M shares outstanding for calculating basic and diluted earnings per share attributable to 3M common shareholders is a result of the dilution associated with the Company’s stock-based compensation plans. Certain options outstanding under these stock-based compensation plans were not included in the computation of diluted earnings per share attributable to 3M common shareholders because they would have had an anti-dilutive effect of 7.9 million average options for the three months ended September 30, 2021; 7.7 million average options for the nine months ended September 30, 2021; 18.8 million average options for the three months ended September 30, 2020; 19.6 million average options for the nine months ended September 30, 2020).

New Accounting Pronouncements

Refer to Note 1 in 3M’s 2020 Annual Report on Form 10-K for a more detailed discussion of the standards in the tables that follow, except for those pronouncements issued subsequent to the most recent Form 10-K filing date for which separate, more detailed discussion is provided below as applicable.


Standards Adopted During the Current Fiscal Year
Standard	Relevant Description	Effective Date for 3M	Impact and Other Matters
ASU No. 2019-12, Simplifying the Accounting for Income Taxes (Topic 740)	Eliminates certain existing exceptions related to the general approach in ASC 740 relating to franchise taxes, reducing complexity in the interim-period accounting for year-to-date loss limitations and changes in tax laws, and clarifying the accounting for transactions outside of business combination that result in a step-up in the tax basis of goodwill.	January 1, 2021	Adoption of this ASU did not have a material impact on 3M’s consolidated results of operations and financial condition.
ASU No. 2020-01, Clarifying the Interactions between Topic 321, Investments—Equity Securities, Topic 323, Investments—Equity Method and Joint Ventures, and Topic 815, Derivatives and Hedging	Clarifies when accounting for certain equity securities, a Company should consider observable transactions before applying or upon discontinuing the equity method of accounting for the purposes of applying the measurement alternative. Indicates when determining the accounting for certain derivatives, a Company should not consider if the underlying securities would be accounted for under the equity method or fair value option.	January 1, 2021	Adoption of this ASU did not have a material impact on 3M’s consolidated results of operations and financial condition.
ASU No. 2020-04, Reference Rate Reform (Topic 848): Facilitation of the Effects of Reference Rate Reform on Financial Reporting and ASU No. 2021-01, Reference Rate Reform (Topic 848): Scope	Provides temporary optional expedients and exceptions to existing guidance on contract modifications and hedge accounting to facilitate the market transition from existing reference rates, such as LIBOR which is being phased out beginning at the end of 2021, to alternate reference rates, such as SOFR.	Effective upon ASU issuances in 2020 & 2021	With the beginning of the phase out of LIBOR at the end of 2021, 3M continues to evaluate commercial contracts that may utilize LIBOR and will continue to monitor developments during the LIBOR transition period.

Business Segments

3M’s businesses are organized, managed and internally grouped into segments based on differences in markets, products, technologies and services. 3M manages its operations in four business segments: Safety and Industrial; Transportation and Electronics; Health Care; and Consumer. 3M’s four business segments bring together common or related 3M technologies, enhancing the development of innovative products and services and providing for efficient sharing of business resources. Transactions among reportable segments are recorded at cost. 3M is an integrated enterprise characterized by substantial intersegment cooperation, cost allocations and inventory transfers. Therefore, management does not represent that these segments, if operated independently, would report the operating income information shown.

3M discloses business segment operating income as its measure of segment profit/loss, reconciled to both total 3M operating income and income before taxes. Business segment operating income includes dual credit for certain related operating income (as described below in “Elimination of Dual Credit”). Business segment operating income excludes certain expenses and income that are not allocated to business segments (as described below in “Corporate and Unallocated”). Additionally, the following special items are excluded from business segment operating income and, instead, are included within Corporate and Unallocated: significant litigation-related charges/benefits, gain/loss on sale of businesses (see Note 3), and divestiture-related restructuring actions (see Note 5).

Effective in the first quarter of 2021, the measure of segment operating performance used by 3M’s CODM changed and, as a result, 3M’s disclosed measure of segment profit/loss (business segment operating income) was updated. The change to business segment operating income aligns with the update to how the CODM assesses performance and allocates resources for the Company’s business segments. The change included the following:

Changes in cost attribution

The extent of allocation and method of attribution of certain net costs were updated to result in fewer items remaining in Corporate and Unallocated and, instead, including them in 3M’s business segments’ operating performance. See the updated description of Corporate and Unallocated below. Previously, a larger portion of ongoing corporate staff costs and costs associated with centrally managed material resource centers was retained in Corporate and Unallocated. In addition, portions of pension costs and costs associated with certain centrally managed but ongoing business-related legal matters, along with certain insurance-related costs, were retained in Corporate and Unallocated.

Continued alignment of customer account activity

As part of 3M’s regular customer-focus initiatives, the Company realigned certain customer account activity (“sales district”) to correlate with the primary divisional product offerings in various countries and reduce complexity for

customers when interacting with multiple 3M businesses. This impacted the amount of dual credit certain business segments receive as a result of sales district attribution.

Also effective in the first quarter of 2021, within 3M’s Consumer business segment, certain safety products formerly within the Construction and Home Improvement Division and the Stationery and Office Division were moved to the newly-named Consumer Health and Safety Division (formerly the Consumer Health Care Division).

Corporate and Unallocated

Corporate and Unallocated operating income includes “special items” and “other corporate expense-net”. Special items include significant litigation-related charges/benefits, gain/loss on sale of businesses, and divestiture-related restructuring costs. Other corporate expense-net includes items such as net costs related to limited unallocated corporate staff and centrally managed material resource centers of expertise costs, certain litigation and environmental expenses largely related to legacy products/businesses not allocated to business segments, corporate philanthropic activity, and other net costs that 3M may choose not to allocate directly to its business segments. Other corporate expense-net also includes costs and income from contract manufacturing, transition services and other arrangements with the acquirer of the Communication Markets Division following its 2018 divestiture through 2019 and the acquirer of the former Drug Delivery business following its 2020 divestiture. Items

classified as revenue from this activity are included in Corporate and Unallocated net sales. Because Corporate and Unallocated includes a variety of miscellaneous items, it is subject to fluctuation on a quarterly and annual basis.

Elimination of Dual Credit

3M business segment reporting measures include dual credit to business segments for certain sales and related operating income. Management evaluates each of its four business segments based on net sales and operating income performance, including dual credit reporting to further incentivize sales growth. As a result, 3M reflects additional (“dual”) credit to another business segment when the customer account activity (“sales district”) with respect to the particular product sold to the external customer is provided by a different business segment. This additional dual credit is largely reflected at the division level. For example, privacy screen protection products are primarily sold by the Display Materials and Systems Division within the Transportation and Electronics business segment; however, certain sales districts within the Consumer business segment provide the customer account activity for sales of the product to particular customers. In this example, the non-primary selling segment (Consumer) would also receive credit for the associated net sales initiated through its sales district and the related approximate operating income. The assigned operating income related to dual credit activity may differ from operating income that would result from actual costs associated with such sales. The offset to the dual credit business segment reporting is reflected as a reconciling item entitled “Elimination of Dual Credit,” such that sales and operating income in total are unchanged.