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Significant Accounting Policies (Policies)

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2019

IDEX is an applied solutions company specializing in the manufacture of fluid and metering technologies, health and science technologies and fire, safety and other diversified products built to customers’ specifications. IDEX’s products are sold in niche markets across a wide range of industries throughout the world. The Company’s products include industrial pumps, compressors, flow meters, injectors, valves and related controls for use in a wide variety of process applications; precision fluidics solutions, including pumps, valves, degassing equipment, corrective tubing, fittings and complex manifolds, optical filters and specialty medical equipment and devices for use in life science applications; precision-engineered equipment for dispensing, metering and mixing paints; and engineered products for industrial and commercial markets, including fire and rescue, transportation equipment, oil and gas, electronics and communications. These activities are grouped into three reportable segments: Fluid & Metering Technologies, Health & Science Technologies and Fire & Safety/Diversified Products.

Principles of Consolidation

The consolidated financial statements include the Company and its subsidiaries. All intercompany transactions and accounts have been eliminated.

Use of Estimates

The preparation of financial statements in conformity with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America (“U.S. GAAP”) requires management to make estimates and judgments that affect the reported amounts of assets and liabilities, disclosure of contingent assets and liabilities and reported amounts of revenue and expenses during the reporting period. Actual results could differ from those estimates. The principal areas of estimation reflected in the financial statements are revenue recognition, sales returns and allowances, allowance for doubtful accounts, inventory valuation, recoverability of long-lived assets, valuation of goodwill and intangible assets, income taxes, product warranties, contingencies and litigation, insurance-related items, defined benefit retirement plans and purchase accounting related to acquisitions.

Revenue Recognition

Revenue is recognized when control of products or services is transferred to our customers in an amount that reflects the consideration we expect to be entitled to in exchange for transferring those products or providing those services. A performance obligation is a promise in a contract to transfer a distinct product or service to the customer. A contract’s transaction price is allocated to each performance obligation and recognized as revenue when, or as, the performance obligation is satisfied. Our performance obligations are satisfied at a point in time or over time as work progresses. Revenue from products and services transferred to customers at a point in time is recognized when obligations under the terms of the contract with our customer are satisfied. Generally, this occurs with the transfer of control of the asset, which is in line with shipping terms. Certain units recognize revenue over time because control transfers continuously to our customers. Revenue is recognized over time as work is performed based on the relationship between actual costs incurred to date for each contract and the total estimated costs for such contract at completion of the performance obligation (i.e. the cost-to-cost method) or ratably over the contract term. As a significant change in one or more of these estimates could affect the profitability of our contracts, we review and update our estimates regularly. Due to uncertainties inherent in the estimation process, it is reasonably possible that completion costs will be revised. Such revisions to costs and income are recognized in the period in which the revisions are determined as a cumulative catch-up adjustment. The impact of the adjustment on profit recorded to date on a contract is recognized in the period the adjustment is identified. If at any time the estimate of contract profitability indicates an anticipated loss on the contract, we recognize provisions for estimated losses on uncompleted contracts in the period in which such losses are determined.

The Company records allowances for discounts and product returns at the time of sale as a reduction of revenue as such allowances can be reliably estimated based on historical experience and known trends. The Company also offers product warranties (primarily assurance-type) and accrues its estimated exposure for warranty claims at the time of sale based upon the length of the warranty period, warranty costs incurred and any other related information known to the Company.

Shipping and Handling Costs

Shipping and handling costs are included in Cost of sales and are recognized as a period expense during the period in which they are incurred.

Advertising Costs

Advertising costs of $15.7 million, $17.0 million and $15.8 million for 2019, 2018 and 2017, respectively, are expensed as incurred within Selling, general and administrative expenses.

Cash and Cash Equivalents

The Company considers all highly liquid instruments purchased with an original maturity of 3 months or less to be cash and cash equivalents.

Accounts Receivable and Allowance for Doubtful Accounts

Accounts receivable are recorded at face amount less an allowance for doubtful accounts. The Company maintains an allowance for doubtful accounts for estimated losses as a result of customers’ inability to make required payments. Management evaluates the aging of the accounts receivable balances, the financial condition of its customers, historical trends and the time outstanding of specific balances to estimate the amount of accounts receivable that may not be collected in the future and records the appropriate provision.

Inventories

The Company states inventories at the lower of cost or net realizable value. Cost, which includes material, labor and factory overhead, is determined on a FIFO basis. We make adjustments to reduce the cost of inventory to its net realizable value, if required, for estimated excess, obsolete or impaired balances. Factors influencing these adjustments include changes in market demand, product life cycle and engineering changes.

Impairment of Long-Lived Assets

A long-lived asset is reviewed for impairment if an event occurs or circumstances change that would more likely than not reduce the fair value of a long-lived asset below its carrying amount, as measured by comparing its net book value to the projected undiscounted future cash flows generated by its use. A long-lived asset impairment exists when the carrying amount of the asset exceeds its fair value. The amount and timing of the impairment charge for this asset requires the estimation of future cash flows to determine the fair value of the asset. An impaired asset is recorded at its estimated fair value based on a discounted cash flow analysis. In the second quarter of 2019, the Company began to evaluate strategic alternatives for one of its businesses in the Health & Science Technologies (“HST”) segment. Prior to making a final decision on the options that were presented for this business, the business was informed in the third quarter of 2019 of the loss of its largest customer. As a result, the Company accelerated its restructuring activities for this business and a decision was made to wind down the business over time. This event required an interim impairment test be performed on the long-lived tangible assets of the business, which resulted in an impairment charge of $9.7 million, consisting of $6.1 million related to a customer relationships intangible asset, $1.0 million related to an unpatented technology intangible asset, $2.0 million related to property, plant and equipment and $0.6 million related to a building right-of-use asset. In the fourth quarter of 2019, the Company completed the consolidation of one of its facilities in the HST segment into the Optics Center of Excellence in Rochester, New York, which also resulted in an impairment charge of $0.4 million related to a building right-of-use asset. These charges were recorded as Restructuring expenses in the Consolidated Statements of Operations. In 2018 and 2017, the Company concluded that there were no long-lived assets with a fair value that was less than the carrying value.

Goodwill and Indefinite-Lived Intangible Assets

The Company reviews the carrying value of goodwill and indefinite-lived intangible assets annually as of October 31, or if an event occurs or circumstances change that would more likely than not reduce the fair value of a reporting unit below its carrying value. The Company evaluates the recoverability of these assets based on the estimated fair value of each of the 13 reporting units and the indefinite-lived intangible assets. See Note 5 for further discussion on goodwill and intangible assets.

Borrowing Expenses

Expenses incurred in securing and issuing debt are capitalized and included as a reduction of Long-term borrowings. These amounts are amortized over the life of the related borrowing and the related amortization is included in Interest expense.

Earnings per Common Share

Earnings per common share (“EPS”) is computed by dividing net income by the weighted average number of shares of common stock (basic) plus common stock equivalents outstanding (diluted) during the year. Common stock equivalents consist of stock options, which have been included in the calculation of weighted average shares outstanding using the treasury stock method, restricted stock and performance share units.

ASC 260, Earnings per Share, concludes that all outstanding unvested share-based payment awards that contain rights to nonforfeitable dividends participate in undistributed earnings with common shareholders. If awards are considered participating securities, the Company is required to apply the two-class method of computing basic and diluted earnings per share. The Company has determined that its outstanding shares of restricted stock are participating securities. Accordingly, EPS was computed using the two-class method prescribed by ASC 260.

Share-Based Compensation

The Company accounts for share-based payments in accordance with ASC 718, Compensation-Stock Compensation. Accordingly, the Company expenses the fair value of awards made under its share-based compensation plans. That cost is recognized in the consolidated financial statements over the requisite service period of the grants. See Note 15 for further discussion on share-based compensation.

Depreciation and Amortization

Property and equipment are stated at cost, with depreciation and amortization provided using the straight-line method over the following estimated useful lives:



Land improvements	8 to 12 years
Buildings and improvements	8 to 30 years
Machinery, equipment and other	3 to 12 years
Office and transportation equipment	3 to 10 years

Certain identifiable intangible assets are amortized over their estimated useful lives using the straight-line method. The estimated useful lives used in the computation of amortization of identifiable intangible assets are as follows:



Patents	5 to 17 years
Trade names	5 to 20 years
Customer relationships	8 to 20 years
Unpatented technology and other	3 to 20 years

Research and Development Expenditures

Costs associated with engineering activities, including research and development, are expensed in the period incurred and are included in Cost of sales.

Foreign Currency Translation and Transaction

The functional currency of substantially all operations outside the United States is the respective local currency. Accordingly, those foreign currency balance sheet accounts have been translated using the exchange rates in effect as of the balance sheet date. Income statement amounts have been translated using the average monthly exchange rates for the year. Translation adjustments from year to year have been reported in Accumulated other comprehensive loss in the Consolidated Balance Sheets. The foreign currency transaction losses (gains) for the periods ending December 31, 2019, 2018 and 2017 were $3.3 million, $(2.4) million and $20.5 million, respectively, and are reported within Other (income) expense - net on the Consolidated Statements of Operations. Of the $20.5 million reported as foreign currency transaction losses for the period ending December 31, 2017, $20.2 million was due to intercompany loans established in conjunction with the SFC Koenig acquisition. See Note 7 for further discussion.

Income Taxes

Income tax expense includes U.S., state, local and international income taxes. Deferred tax assets and liabilities are recognized for the tax consequences of temporary differences between the financial reporting and the tax basis of existing assets and liabilities and for loss carryforwards. The tax rate used to determine the deferred tax assets and liabilities is the enacted tax rate for the year and manner in which the differences are expected to reverse. Valuation allowances are recorded to reduce deferred tax assets to the amount that will more likely than not be realized.

Concentration of Credit Risk

The Company is not dependent on a single customer as its largest customer accounted for less than 2% of net sales for all years presented.

Recently Adopted Accounting Standards and Recently Issued Accounting Standards

Recently Adopted Accounting Standards

In February 2018, the Financial Accounting Standards Board (“FASB”) issued Accounting Standards Update (“ASU”) 2018-02, Reclassification of Certain Tax Effects from Accumulated Other Comprehensive Income, which allows an entity to reclassify the stranded tax effects in accumulated other comprehensive income (loss) to retained earnings in the statement of shareholders’ equity. The Company early adopted this standard on a retrospective basis on January 1, 2018. The adoption resulted in an increase of $6.4 million to Retained earnings and a corresponding change of $6.4 million to Accumulated other comprehensive income (loss) at January 1, 2018.

In January 2017, the FASB issued ASU 2017-01, Clarifying the Definition of a Business, which clarifies the definition of a business and assists entities with evaluating whether transactions should be accounted for as acquisitions or disposals of assets or businesses. Under this guidance, when substantially all of the fair value of gross assets acquired is concentrated in a single asset or a group of similar assets, the assets acquired would not represent a business. In addition, in order to be considered a business, an acquisition would have to include at a minimum an input and a substantive process that together significantly contribute to the ability to create an output. The amended guidance also narrows the definition of outputs by more closely aligning it with how outputs are described in the FASB guidance for revenue recognition. The Company adopted this standard on January 1, 2018 and accounted for the purchase of the intellectual property assets from Phantom Controls utilizing this guidance. See Note 5 for further information.

In October 2016, the FASB issued ASU 2016-16, Intra-Entity Transfers of Assets Other Than Inventory, which amends Accounting Standards Codification (“ASC”) 740, Income Taxes. This ASU requires that the income tax consequences of an intra-

entity asset transfer other than inventory are recognized at the time of the transfer. An entity will continue to recognize the income tax consequences of an intercompany transfer of inventory when the inventory is sold to a third party. The Company adopted this standard on a modified retrospective basis on January 1, 2018. The adoption resulted in a decrease of $7.3 million to Other current assets, a decrease of $6.7 million to Deferred income taxes and a decrease of $0.6 million to Retained earnings at January 1, 2018.

In August 2016, the FASB issued ASU 2016-15, Classification of Certain Cash Receipts and Cash Payments (a consensus of the FASB Emerging Issues Task Force). This ASU addresses the following eight specific cash flow issues: debt prepayment or debt extinguishment costs; settlement of zero-coupon debt instruments or other debt instruments with coupon interest rates that are insignificant in relation to the effective interest rate of the borrowing; contingent consideration payments made after a business combination; proceeds from the settlement of insurance claims; proceeds from the settlement of corporate-owned life insurance policies (including bank-owned life insurance policies); distributions received from equity method investees; beneficial interests in securitization transactions; and separately identifiable cash flows and application of the predominance principle. The Company adopted this standard on January 1, 2018. The adoption of this standard did not have a material impact on our consolidated financial statements.

In February 2016, the FASB issued ASU 2016-02, Leases, which sets out the principles for the recognition, measurement, presentation and disclosure of leases for both parties to a contract (i.e. lessees and lessors). This standard introduced a new lessee model that requires most leases to be recorded on the balance sheet and eliminates the required use of bright line tests for determining lease classification from U.S. GAAP. In July 2018, the FASB issued ASU 2018-10, Codification Improvements to Topic 842, Leases and ASU 2018-11, Leases (Topic 842): Targeted Improvements, which clarified ASU 2016-02 and had the same effective date as the original standard. ASU 2018-11 included an option to use the effective date of ASU 2016-02 as the date of initial application of transition as well as an option not to restate comparative periods in transition. In March 2019, the FASB issued ASU 2019-01, Leases (Topic 842): Codification Improvements, which also clarified ASU 2016-02 and is effective for fiscal years beginning after December 15, 2019 and interim periods within those fiscal years.

The Company adopted this standard on January 1, 2019 using the optional transition method provided by the FASB in ASU 2018-11. As we did not restate comparative periods, the adoption had no impact on our previously reported results. We elected to use the practical expedient that allowed us not to reassess: (1) whether any expired or existing contracts are or contain leases, (2) the lease classification for any expired or existing leases and (3) initial direct costs for any expired or existing leases and the practical expedient that allows us to treat the lease and non-lease components as a single lease component for all asset classes. We also elected to account for short-term leases (i.e. leases with a term of one year or less) in accordance with ASC 842-20-25-2 (i.e. expensed over the term and not recorded on the balance sheet). The adoption of this standard impacted our consolidated balance sheet due to the recognition of right of use assets and lease liabilities. Upon adoption, we recognized right of use assets and lease liabilities of approximately $68 million that reflected the present value of future lease payments. The adoption of this standard did not have a material impact on our consolidated results of operations or cash flows. See Note 9 for further information.

In May 2014, the FASB issued ASU 2014-09, Revenue from Contracts with Customers, which replaces numerous requirements in U.S. GAAP, including industry-specific requirements, and provides companies with a new five-step model for recognizing revenue from contracts with customers. Under ASU 2014-09, an entity should recognize revenue to depict the transfer of promised goods or services to customers in an amount that reflects the consideration to which the entity expects to be entitled in exchange for those goods or services. This ASU also requires disclosures sufficient to enable users to understand the nature, amount, timing, and uncertainty of revenue and cash flows arising from contracts with customers, including qualitative and quantitative disclosures about contracts with customers, significant judgments and changes in judgments, and assets recognized from the costs to obtain or fulfill a contract. The FASB has also issued the following standards which clarify ASU 2014-09 and have the same effective date as the original standard: ASU 2016-08, Revenue from Contracts with Customers: Principal versus Agent Considerations (Reporting Revenue Gross versus Net); ASU 2016-10, Revenue from Contracts with Customers: Identifying Performance Obligations and Licensing; ASU 2016-12, Revenue from Contracts with Customers: Narrow-Scope Improvements and Practical Expedients; and ASU 2016-20, Technical Corrections and Improvements to Topic 606, Revenue from Contracts with Customers.

In 2016, we established an implementation team and analyzed the impact of the standard by surveying business units and performing extensive contract reviews to identify potential differences that may result from applying the requirements of the new standard. The contract reviews generally supported the recognition of revenue at a point in time, which was consistent with the revenue recognition model used by most of our business units. As a result, revenue recognition was unchanged under the new standard. For our business units that previously recognized revenue under a percentage of completion model, revenue recognition was also unchanged as the contract reviews supported the recognition of revenue over time. The Company implemented the appropriate changes to its processes, systems and controls to comply with the new guidance. The Company adopted this standard on January 1, 2018 using the modified retrospective approach applied to contracts that were not completed as of January 1, 2018.

The adoption of this standard did not have an impact on our consolidated financial statements, except to provide additional disclosures. The Company elected the following practical expedients: significant financing component, sales tax presentation, contract costs, shipping and handling activities and disclosures. See Note 4 for further details on revenue.

Recently Issued Accounting Standards

In June 2016, the FASB issued ASU 2016-13, Financial Instruments - Credit losses (Topic 326): Measurement of Credit Losses on Financial Instruments and in November 2018 issued a subsequent amendment, ASU 2018-19, Codification Improvements to Topic 326, Financial Instruments - Credit Losses. ASU 2016-13 significantly changes how entities will measure credit losses for most financial assets and certain other instruments that are not measured at fair value through net income. ASU 2016-13 will replace today’s “incurred loss” approach with an “expected loss” model for instruments measured at amortized cost. ASU 2018-19 will affect loans, debt securities, trade receivables, net investments in leases, off-balance sheet credit exposures, reinsurance receivables, and any other financial assets not excluded from the scope of this amendment that represent the contractual right to receive cash. ASU 2016-13 and ASU 2018-19 should be applied on either a prospective transition or modified-retrospective approach depending on the subtopic. ASU 2016-13 is effective for annual periods beginning after December 15, 2019, and interim periods therein. The adoption of this standard will not have a material impact on our consolidated financial statements.