Accounting Policies and Related Matters (Policies)

6 Months Ended

Jun. 30, 2019

The accompanying unaudited consolidated financial statements have been prepared in accordance with U.S. generally accepted accounting principles (“U.S. GAAP”) for interim financial information and with instructions to Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q and Article 10 of Regulation S-X. Accordingly, they do not include all of the information and footnotes required by U.S. GAAP for complete financial statements. In the opinion of management, all adjustments (such as normal recurring accruals) considered necessary for a fair presentation have been included. Operating results for the six months ended June 30, 2019 are not necessarily an indication of the results that may be expected for the year ending December 31, 2019. For further information, refer to the financial statements and notes thereto included in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2018.

New Accounting Standards

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We adopted Accounting Standards Update 2016-02, Leases (Topic 842) ("ASC 842") which requires lessees to recognize assets and liabilities on their consolidated balance sheet related to the rights and obligations created by most leases, while continuing to recognize expenses on their consolidated statement of comprehensive income over the lease term. We adopted ASC 842 as of January 1, 2019, using the modified retrospective approach and have elected the package of practical expedients permitted under the transition guidance within the new standard, which among other things, permits us to carry forward our prior conclusions for lease classification and initial direct costs on existing leases. We also made an accounting policy election to keep short-term leases less than twelve months off the balance sheet for all classes of underlying assets.

In July 2018, the FASB issued ASU 2018-11 "Leases (Topic 842): Targeted Improvements" that (1) simplifies transition requirements for both lessees and lessors by adding an option that permits entities to apply the transition provisions of the new standard at its adoption date instead of at the earliest comparative period presented in its financial statements and (2) allows lessors to elect, as a practical expedient, to not separate lease and non-lease components in a contract, and instead to account for as a single lease component, if certain criteria are met. This practical expedient causes an entity to assess whether a contract is predominantly lease or service-based and recognize the entire contract under the relevant accounting guidance (i.e. predominantly lease-based would be accounted for under ASC 842 and predominantly service-based would be accounted for under ASU 2014-09, "Revenue from Contracts with Customers (ASC 606)"). For the year ended December 31, 2018, we recognized revenue for our Seniors Housing Operating resident agreements in accordance with the provisions of the prior lease guidance, ASC 840, "Leases." Upon adoption of ASC 842, we elected the lessor practical expedient described above and recognized revenue for our Seniors Housing Operating segment based upon the predominant component, the non-lease service component. Therefore, beginning on January 1, 2019, we accounted for these resident agreements under ASC 606. The timing and pattern of revenue recognition is substantially the same as that prior to adoption.

The FASB also issued ASU 2018-20 "Leases (Topic 842) - Narrow Improvements for Lessors," which provides lessors the ability to make an accounting policy election not to evaluate whether certain sales taxes and other similar taxes imposed by a governmental authority on a specific lease revenue-producing transaction are the primary obligation of the lessor as owner of the underlying leased asset. A lessor that makes this election will exclude these taxes from the measurement of lease revenue and the associated expense. Upon adoption of ASC 842, we utilized this practical expedient in instances in which real estate taxes are paid directly by our tenants to taxing authorities. For triple-net leasing arrangements in which the tenant remits payment for real estate taxes to us and we pay the taxing authority, we have included the associated revenue and expense in rental income and property operating expenses on the Consolidated Statements of Comprehensive Income. This reporting had no impact on our net income.

For leases in which the Company is the lessee, primarily consisting of ground leases and various office and equipment leases, we recognized upon adoption a right of use asset of $509,386,000 which included the present value of minimum leases payments, existing above and/or below market lease intangible values and existing straight-line rent liabilities

associated with such leases. We also recognized operating lease liabilities of $357,070,000. The standard did not materially impact our Consolidated Statements of Comprehensive Income or our Consolidated Statement of Cash Flows. See Note 6 for additional details.

The following ASU has been issued but not yet adopted:

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In 2016, the FASB issued ASU 2016-13, “Measurement of Credit Losses on Financial Instruments" ("ASU 2016-13"). This standard requires a new forward-looking “expected loss” model to be used for receivables, held-to-maturity debt, loans, and other instruments. In November 2018, the FASB issued an amendment excluding operating lease receivables accounted for under the new leases standard from the scope of the new credit losses standard. ASU 2016-13 is effective for fiscal years, and interim periods within those years, beginning after December 15, 2019, and early adoption is permitted for fiscal years beginning after December 15, 2018. We are currently evaluating the impact that the standard will have on our consolidated financial statements.