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Basis of Presentation and Significant Accounting Policies
 9 Months Ended
Sep. 30, 2022
Organization, Consolidation and Presentation of Financial Statements [Abstract]  
Basis of Presentation and Significant Accounting Policies Basis of Presentation and Significant Accounting Policies
The accompanying unaudited condensed consolidated financial statements of Newell Brands Inc. (collectively with its subsidiaries, the “Company”) have been prepared pursuant to the rules and regulations of the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”) and do not include all of the information and footnotes required by U.S. generally accepted accounting principles (“U.S. GAAP”) for complete financial statements. In the opinion of management, the unaudited condensed consolidated financial statements include all adjustments (including normal recurring accruals) considered necessary for a fair statement of the financial position and the results of operations of the Company. These unaudited condensed consolidated financial statements should be read in conjunction with the financial statements, and the footnotes thereto, included in the Company’s most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K. The Condensed Consolidated Balance Sheet at December 31, 2021 has been derived from the audited financial statements as of that date, but it does not include all the information and footnotes required by U.S. GAAP for a complete financial statement. Certain reclassifications have been made in the Company's financial statements of the prior year to conform to current year presentation.

On March 31, 2022, the Company sold its Connected Home & Security (“CH&S”) business unit to Resideo Technologies, Inc. See Footnotes 2 and 16 for further information.

Use of Estimates and Risks

Management’s application of U.S. GAAP in preparing the Company's condensed consolidated financial statements requires the pervasive use of estimates and assumptions. The Company, which has been impacted in recent years by inflationary and supply chain pressures, labor shortages, and logistical challenges across its businesses, and more recently by the indirect macroeconomic impact of the Russia-Ukraine conflict, is also experiencing additional headwinds due to softening global demand and an increased focus by retailers to rebalance inventory levels in light of continued inflationary pressures on consumers. The segments most impacted by the softening global demand are Home Appliances and Home Solutions. These collective macroeconomic trends, the duration or severity of which are highly uncertain, are rapidly changing the retail landscape and have negatively impacted the Company’s operating results, cash flows and financial condition in 2022 and are expected to persist for the remainder of the year and into 2023. The high level of uncertainty of these factors has resulted in estimates and assumptions that have the potential for more variability and are more subjective. In addition, some of the other inherent estimates and assumptions used in the Company’s forecasted results of operations and cash flows that form the basis of the determination of the fair value of the reporting units for goodwill and indefinite-lived intangible asset impairment testing are outside the control of management, including interest rates, cost of capital, tax rates, industry growth, credit ratings, foreign exchange rates and labor inflation. Although management has made its best estimates and assumptions based upon current information, actual results could materially differ given the uncertainty of these factors and may require future changes to such estimates and assumptions, including reserves, which may result in future expense or impairment charges.

During the third quarter of 2022, the Company concluded that a triggering event had occurred for its Home Fragrance reporting unit, in the Home Solutions segment, an indefinite-lived tradename in the Home Appliances reporting unit, and two indefinite-lived tradenames for the Baby reporting unit, in the Learning and Development segment. The Company performed a quantitative impairment test and determined that the Home Fragrance reporting unit goodwill, and the indefinite-lived tradenames in the Home Appliances and Baby reporting units noted above were impaired. During the three and nine months ended September 30, 2022, the Company recorded an aggregate non-cash impairment charge of $148 million, as the carrying values exceeded their fair values. A quantitative impairment test was also performed for the indefinite-lived tradename and long-lived assets in the Home Fragrance reporting unit resulting in no impairment. See Footnote 7 for further information.

Seasonal Variations

Sales of the Company’s products tend to be seasonal, with sales, operating income and operating cash flow in the first quarter generally lower than any other quarter during the year, driven principally by reduced volume and the mix of products sold in the first quarter. The seasonality of the Company’s sales volume combined with the accounting for fixed costs, such as depreciation, amortization, rent, personnel costs and interest expense, impacts the Company’s results on a quarterly basis. In addition, the Company typically tends to generate the majority of its operating cash flow in the third and fourth quarters of the year due to seasonal variations in operating results, the timing of annual performance-based compensation payments, customer program payments, working capital requirements and credit terms provided to customers. Accordingly, the Company’s results of
operations for the three and nine months ended September 30, 2022 and cash flows for the nine months ended September 30, 2022, may not necessarily be indicative of the results that may be expected for the year ending December 31, 2022.
The Company's sales and operating results, previously disrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic, reverted back to historical patterns in 2021, however, uncertainty still remains due to the significant volatility and direction of future consumer and customer demand patterns, as well as inflationary and supply chain pressures.

Recent Accounting Pronouncements

Changes to U.S. GAAP are established by the Financial Accounting Standards Board (“FASB”) in the form of accounting standards updates (“ASUs”) to the FASB’s Accounting Standards Codification. The Company considers the applicability and impact of all ASUs.

In March 2020, the FASB issued ASU 2020-04, “Reference Rate Reform (Topic 848): Facilitation of the Effects of Reference Rate Reform on Financial Reporting.” In January 2021, the FASB clarified the scope of this guidance with the issuance of ASU 2021-01, Reference Rate Reform: Scope. ASU 2020-04 provides optional expedients and exceptions to account for contracts, hedging relationships and other transactions that reference the London Interbank Offered Rate (“LIBOR”) or another reference rate if certain criteria are met. ASU 2020-04 may be applied prospectively to contract modifications made and hedging relationships entered into or evaluated on or before December 31, 2024. The Company does not expect the adoption of ASU 2020-04 to have a material impact to its consolidated financial statements.

In October 2022, the FASB issued ASU 2022-04, “Supplier Finance Programs (Subtopic 405-50): Disclosure of Supplier Finance Program Obligations.” This ASU requires that a buyer in a supplier finance program disclose sufficient information about the program to allow a user of financial statements to better consider the effect of the programs on an entity’s working capital, liquidity, and cash flows. This ASU is effective for fiscal years beginning after December 15, 2022, except for the amendment on roll forward information which is effective for fiscal years beginning after December 15, 2023. The Company is evaluating the effect of adopting this new accounting guidance.

Sales of Accounts Receivables

Factored receivables at September 30, 2022 associated with the Company's existing factoring agreement (the “Customer Receivables Purchase Agreement”) were approximately $375 million, a decrease of approximately $125 million from December 31, 2021. During the second quarter of 2022, the Company amended the Customer Receivables Purchase Agreement to (1) increase the amount of certain customer receivables that may be sold under the agreement, (2) add new customers to the agreement and (3) change the reference rate from LIBOR to Secured Overnight Financing Rate (“SOFR”). Transactions under this agreement are accounted for as sales of accounts receivable, and the receivables sold are removed from the Condensed Consolidated Balance Sheet at the time of the sales transaction. The Company classifies the proceeds received from the sales of accounts receivable as an operating cash flow in the Condensed Consolidated Statement of Cash Flows. The Company records the discount as other (income) expense, net in the Condensed Consolidated Statement of Operations and collections of accounts receivables not yet submitted to the financial institution as a financing cash flow.