Credit losses Credit losses

3 Months Ended

Mar. 31, 2020

Allowance for Credit Loss [Abstract]

Credit losses

Credit losses

We are exposed to credit losses primarily through sales of our Core and High-Value services to customers with operations in the U.S. as well as customers in more than 100 countries outside the U.S. We typically invoice our customers on a monthly basis and payment terms are generally between 30 and 60 days.

We assess our financial assets on a pool basis by aggregating financial assets with similar risk characteristics. We have pooled the financial assets by geographical location, specifically by country, because of the similarities within each country such as customers, payment terms, and services offered. Loss experience is monitored for each pool and we determine historical loss rates for each pool. These historical loss rates are the main assumption used in estimating expected credit losses over the life of the financial assets.

We monitor the aging of accounts receivables by country and write off any accounts that are deemed uncollectible. We also monitor any significant economic events to identify any current or expected trends and risks within a pool that could impact the collectability of outstanding accounts receivables balances that were not contemplated or relevant during a previous period.

The following table is a rollforward of the allowance for bad debts for the three month period ending March 31, 2020.

Allowance for doubtful accounts:

(In millions)
December 31, 2019	$	30.2
Cumulative effect of change in accounting principle	2.3
Provision for uncollectible accounts receivable(a)	12.3
Write-offs less recoveries	(6.6		)
Foreign currency exchange effects	(0.9		)
March 31, 2020	$	37.3

(a)

The provision in 2020 includes a $9.4 million allowance related to the internal loss in our U.S global services operations. See Note 1 for details.