Revenues (Notes)

3 Months Ended

Mar. 31, 2018

Disaggregation of Revenue [Line Items]

Disaggregation of Revenue [Table Text Block]

The following tables present the revenues disaggregated by revenue source:



	Three months ended March 31, 2018
(in thousands)	Retail		National Programs		Wholesale		Services		Other			Total
Base commissions⁽¹⁾	$	222,329	$	74,610	$	52,425	$	—	$	126		$	349,490
Fees⁽²⁾	23,655		33,685		11,271		43,993		(236		)	112,368
Incentive commissions⁽³⁾	23,560		40		207		—		9			23,816
Profit-sharing contingent commissions⁽⁴⁾	6,130		3,982		1,572		—		—			11,684
Guaranteed supplemental commissions⁽⁵⁾	2,522		15		443		—		—			2,980
Investment income⁽⁶⁾	1		114		—		73		413			601
Other income, net⁽⁷⁾	205		29		230		—		58			522
Total Revenues	$	278,402	$	112,475	$	66,148	$	44,066	$	370		$	501,461

(1)

Base commissions generally represent a percentage of the premium paid by an insured and are affected by fluctuations in both premium rate levels charged by insurance companies and the insureds’ underlying “insurable exposure units,” which are units that insurance companies use to measure or express insurance exposed to risk (such as property values, or sales and payroll levels) to determine what premium to charge the insured. Insurance companies establish these premium rates based upon many factors, including loss experience, risk profile and reinsurance rates paid by such insurance companies, none of which we control.


(2)	Fee revenues relate to fees for services other than securing coverage for our customers and fees negotiated in lieu of commissions.


(3)	Incentive commissions include additional commissions over base commissions received from insurance carriers based on predetermined production levels mutually agreed upon by both parties.


(4)	Profit-sharing contingent commissions are based primarily on underwriting results, but which may also reflect considerations for volume, growth and/or retention.


(5)	Guaranteed supplemental commissions represents guaranteed fixed-base agreements in lieu of profit-sharing contingent commissions.


(6)	Investment income consists primarily of interest on cash and investments.


(7)	Other income consists primarily of legal settlements and other miscellaneous income.

Contract Assets and Liabilities

The balances of contract assets and contract liabilities arising from contracts with customers for the period ended March 31, 2018 and December 31, 2017 were as follows:



(in thousands)	March 31, 2018		December 31, 2017⁽¹⁾
Contract assets	$	222,544	$	210,323
Contract liabilities	$	54,881	$	51,236


(1)	The balances as of December 31, 2017 have been revised to reflect the impact of adopting the New Revenue Standard.

Unbilled receivables (contract assets) arise when the Company recognizes revenue for amounts which have not yet been billed in our systems. Deferred revenue (contract liabilities) relates to payments received in advance of performance under the contract before the transfer of a good or service to the customer.

Approximately 87% of the contract liability balance at the beginning of the period is expected to be recognized as revenue during 2018. The remaining 13% of the contract liability balance at the beginning of the period is included within other liabilities (long term) and expected to be recognized as revenue during 2019 or thereafter.

During the period ended March 31, 2018, the amount of revenue recognized during the period related to performance obligations satisfied in a previous period, inclusive of changes due to estimates, was insignificant.