Revenues

Adoption of New Revenue Guidance

As described in Note 1, Basis of Presentation and Significant Accounting Policies, we adopted the guidance within ASU 2014-09 as of September 1, 2018, using the modified retrospective transition approach. Consistent with other companies that actively trade commodities, a majority of our revenues are attributable to forward commodity sales contracts that are considered to be physically settled derivatives under ASC 815, Derivatives and Hedging (ASC Topic 815) and therefore fall outside the scope of ASC Topic 606. As a result, these revenues are not subject to the provisions of the new revenue guidance and the impact of adoption is limited to our revenue streams that fall within the scope of the new revenue guidance.

The majority of our revenue streams that fall within the scope of the new revenue guidance are recognized at a point-in-time; however, the adoption of ASU 2014-09 resulted in a minimal number of changes to the timing of revenue recognition for certain revenue streams. Under the modified retrospective method of adoption, we determined the cumulative effect of adoption for all contracts with customers that had not been completed as of the adoption date and recognized an adjustment of less than $1.0 million to the opening capital reserves balance within the Consolidated Balance Sheet as of September 1, 2018. Additionally, the impact of applying ASC Topic 606 compared to previous guidance during the three months ended November 30, 2018, was an overall decrease to revenues of $13.1 million.

The change in accounting for revenue recognition under ASU 2014-09 did not have a material impact on our Consolidated Statement of Operations for the three months ended November 30, 2018, or Consolidated Balance Sheet as of November 30, 2018.

Revenue Recognition Accounting Policy and Performance Obligations

We provide a wide variety of products and services, from agricultural inputs such as fuels, farm supplies and crop nutrients, to agricultural outputs that include grain and oilseed, processed grains and oilseeds and food products, and ethanol production and marketing. We primarily conduct our operations and derive revenues within our Energy and Ag businesses. Our Energy business derives its revenues through refining, wholesaling and retailing of petroleum products. Our Ag business derives its revenues through the origination and marketing of grain, including service activities conducted at export terminals; through wholesale sales of crop nutrients and processed sunflowers; from sales of soybean meal, soybean refined oil and soyflour products; through the production and marketing of renewable fuels; and through retail sales of petroleum and agronomy products, and feed and farm supplies.

Revenue is recognized when performance obligations under the terms of a contract with a customer are satisfied, which generally occurs when control of the goods has transferred to customers. For the majority of our contracts with customers, control transfers to customers at a point-in-time when goods/services have been delivered, as that is generally when legal title, physical possession and risks and rewards of goods/services transfers to the customer. In limited arrangements, control transfers over time as the customer simultaneously receives and consumes the benefits of the service as we complete our performance obligation(s).

Revenue is recognized at the transaction price that we expect to be entitled to in exchange for transferring goods or services to a customer, excluding amounts collected on behalf of third parties. We follow a policy of recognizing revenue at the point-in-time or over the period of time that we satisfy our performance obligation by transferring control over a product or service to a customer in accordance with the underlying contract. For physically settled derivative sales contracts that are outside the scope of the revenue guidance, we recognize revenue when control of the inventory is transferred within the meaning of ASC Topic 606.

The amount of revenue recognized during the three months ended November 30, 2018, for performance obligations that were fully satisfied in previous periods was not material.

Shipping and Handling Costs

Shipping and handling amounts billed to a customer as part of a sales transaction are included in revenues, and the related costs are included in cost of goods sold. Shipping and handling is treated as a fulfillment activity rather than a promised service, and therefore is not considered a separate performance obligation.

Taxes Collected from Customers and Remitted to Governmental Authorities

Revenue is recorded net of taxes collected from customers that are remitted to governmental authorities, with the collected taxes recorded as current liabilities until remitted to the relevant government authority.

Contract Costs

Commissions related to contracts with a duration of less than one year are expensed as incurred. We recognize incremental costs of obtaining contracts as an expense when incurred if the amortization period of the assets we otherwise would have recognized is one year or less.

Disaggregation of Revenues

The following table presents revenues recognized under ASC Topic 606 disaggregated by reportable segment, as well as the amount of revenues recognized under ASC Topic 815 and other applicable accounting guidance for the three months ended November 30, 2018. Other applicable accounting guidance primarily includes revenues recognized under ASC Topic 840, Leases and ASC Topic 470, Debt that fall outside the scope of ASC Topic 606.



	ASC 606		ASC 815		Other Guidance		Total Revenues
For the Three Months Ended November 30, 2018:	(Dollars in thousands)
Energy	$	1,940,190	$	221,098	$	—	$	2,161,288
Ag	1,355,826		4,913,428		36,143		6,305,397
Corporate and Other	5,234		—		12,370		17,604
Total revenues	$	3,301,250	$	5,134,526	$	48,513	$	8,484,289

Less than 1% of revenues accounted for under ASC Topic 606 included within the table above are recorded over time; these revenues are primarily related to service contracts.

Our Energy segment derives its revenues through refining, wholesaling and retailing of petroleum products. Our Energy segment produces and sells (primarily wholesale) gasoline, diesel fuel, propane, asphalt, lubricants and other related products and provides transportation services. We are the nation’s largest cooperative energy company, with operations that include petroleum refining and pipelines; the supply, marketing and distribution of refined fuels (gasoline, diesel fuel and other energy products); the blending, sale and distribution of lubricants; and the wholesale supply of propane and other natural gas liquids. For the majority of revenues arising from sales to Energy customers, we satisfy our performance obligation of providing energy products such as gasoline, diesel fuel, propane, asphalt, lubricants and other related products at the point-in-time that the finished petroleum product is delivered or made available to the wholesale or retail customer, at which point control is considered to have been transferred to the customer and revenue can be recognized, as there are no remaining performance obligations that we need to satisfy in order to be entitled to the agreed-upon transaction price as stated in the contract. For fixed and provisionally-priced derivative sales contracts that are accounted for under the provisions of the derivative accounting guidance and are outside the scope of the revenue recognition guidance, we recognize revenue when control of the inventory is transferred within the meaning of ASC 606.

Our Ag segment derives its revenues through the origination and marketing of grain, including service activities conducted at export terminals; through wholesale sales of crop nutrients and processed sunflowers; from sales of soybean meal, soybean refined oil and soyflour products; through the production and marketing of renewable fuels; and through retail sales of petroleum and agronomy products, and feed and farm supplies. For the majority of revenues arising from sales to Ag customers, we satisfy our performance obligation of delivering a commodity or other agricultural end product to a customer at the point-in-time that the commodity or other end-product (wholesale grain, crop nutrients/agronomy products, soybean products, ethanol or country operations retail products) has been delivered or is made available to the customer, at which point control is considered to have been transferred to the customer and revenue can be recognized, as there are no remaining performance obligations that need to be satisfied in order to be entitled to the agreed-upon transaction price as stated in the contract. The amount of revenue recognized follows the contractually specified price, which may include freight or other contractually specified cost components. For fixed and provisionally-priced derivative sales contracts that are accounted for under the provisions of the derivative accounting guidance and are outside the scope of the revenue recognition guidance, we recognize revenue when control of the inventory is transferred within the meaning of ASC Topic 606.

Corporate and Other primarily consists of our financing and hedging businesses, which are presented together due to the similar nature of their products and services as well as the relatively lower amount of revenues for those businesses compared to our Ag and Energy businesses. Prior to its sale on May 4, 2018, our insurance business was also included in Corporate and Other. Revenues arising from Corporate and Other are primarily comprised of revenues generated by our hedging and financing businesses. Revenues from our hedging business are primarily recognized at the point-in-time that the hedging transaction is completed after we have fully satisfied all performance obligations under the contract, and revenues arising from our financing business are recognized in accordance with ASC Topic 470, Debt, and fall outside the scope of ASC Topic 606.

Contract Assets and Contract Liabilities

Contract assets relate to unbilled amounts arising from goods that have already been transferred to the customer where the right to payment is not conditional upon the passage of time. This results in the recognition of an asset, as the amount of revenue recognized at a certain point in time exceeds the amount billed to the customer. Contract assets are recorded in accounts receivable within our Consolidated Balance Sheets and were immaterial as of November 30, 2018, and August 31, 2018.

Contract liabilities relate to advance payments from customers for goods and services that we have yet to provide. Contract liabilities of $187.9 million and $177.9 million as of November 30, 2018, and August 31, 2018, respectively, are recorded within customer advance payments on our Consolidated Balance Sheets. For the three months ended November 30, 2018, we recognized revenues of $95.2 million, which were included in the customer advance payments balance at the beginning of the period.

Practical expedients

We applied ASC Topic 606 utilizing the following allowable exemptions or practical expedients:


•	Election to not disclose the unfulfilled performance obligation balance for contracts with an original duration of one year or less.


•	Recognition of the incremental costs of obtaining a contract as an expense when incurred if the amortization period of the asset that would otherwise have been recognized is one year or less.


•	Election to present revenues net of sales taxes and other similar taxes.


•	Practical expedient to treat shipping and handling as a fulfillment activity rather than a promised service, resulting in the conclusion that shipping and handling is not a separate performance obligation.