Basis of Presentation

9 Months Ended

Sep. 30, 2013

Basis of Presentation

Basis of Presentation

Note 1.  Basis of Presentation

The accompanying condensed consolidated financial statements of CommonWealth REIT and its subsidiaries, or the Company, CWH, we, us or our, have been prepared without audit.  Certain information and footnote disclosures required by U.S. generally accepted accounting principles, or GAAP, for complete financial statements have been condensed or omitted.  We believe the disclosures made are adequate to make the information presented not misleading.  However, the accompanying condensed consolidated financial statements should be read in conjunction with the consolidated financial statements and notes contained in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2012, or our Annual Report.  In the opinion of our management, all adjustments, which include only normal recurring adjustments considered necessary for a fair presentation, have been included.  All material intercompany transactions and balances with or among our subsidiaries have been eliminated.  Operating results for interim periods are not necessarily indicative of the results that may be expected for the full year.  Reclassifications have been made to the prior years’ financial statements to conform to the current year’s presentation.

The preparation of financial statements in conformity with GAAP requires us to make estimates and assumptions that affect reported amounts.  Actual results could differ from those estimates.  Significant estimates in the condensed consolidated financial statements include the allowance for doubtful accounts, purchase price allocations, useful lives of fixed assets and impairment of real estate and intangible assets.

On March 12, 2012, our then wholly owned subsidiary, Select Income REIT, completed an initial public offering of 9,200,000 of its common shares, or the SIR IPO.  We refer to Select Income REIT and its consolidated subsidiaries as SIR.  SIR is a real estate investment trust, or REIT.  On July 2, 2013, SIR issued and sold to the public 10,500,000 of its common shares of beneficial interest in an underwritten public offering.  Before this offering, our 22,000,000 common shares of SIR represented approximately 56.0% of SIR’s outstanding common shares and SIR was one of our consolidated subsidiaries.  As of September 30, 2013, we owned 22,000,000 SIR common shares, or approximately 44.2% of SIR’s outstanding common shares.  Since our investment in SIR is below 50% after this offering, effective July 2, 2013, we no longer consolidate our investment in SIR, but instead account for such investment under the equity method.   See Note 6 and Note 15 for additional information regarding SIR.