ALLOWANCE FOR DOUBTFUL ACCOUNTS RECEIVABLES

6 Months Ended

Jun. 30, 2020

Accounts Receivable, after Allowance for Credit Loss [Abstract]

ALLOWANCE FOR DOUBTFUL ACCOUNTS RECEIVABLES

NOTE 4. ALLOWANCE FOR DOUBTFUL ACCOUNTS RECEIVABLES

We evaluate the collectibility of financial instruments based on our current estimate of credit losses expected to be incurred over the life of the financial instrument.  The only significant financial instrument which creates exposure to credit losses are customer accounts receivables.  We measure credit losses on uncollected accounts receivable through an allowance for doubtful accounts receivable which is based on a combination of factors including both historical collection experience and reasonable estimates that affect the expected collectibility of the receivable.  These factors include historical bad debt experience, industry conditions of the customer or group of customers, geographical region, credit ratings and general market conditions. We group receivables together for purposes of estimating credit losses when customers have similar risk characteristics; otherwise, the estimation is performed on the individual receivable.

This estimate is periodically adjusted when we become aware of a specific customer’s inability to meet its financial obligations (e.g., bankruptcy filing) or as a result of changes in the overall aging of accounts receivable. While we have a large number of customers that operate in diverse businesses and are geographically dispersed, a general economic downturn in any of the industry segments in which we operate could result in higher than expected defaults, and, therefore, the need to revise estimates for the provision for doubtful accounts could occur.

Allowance for doubtful accounts receivables consisted of the following:

	June 30,
	2020			2019
	($ in millions)
Balance at beginning of year	$	11.9		$	12.9
Provisions charged	0.7			0.9
Write-offs, net of recoveries	—			(2.1		)
Foreign currency translation adjustment	(0.1		)	0.2
Balance at end of period	$	12.5		$	11.9

Provisions charged to operations were $0.5 million and $0.4 million for the three months ended June 30, 2020 and 2019, respectively.