Significant Accounting Policies (Policies)

3 Months Ended

Mar. 31, 2020

Accounting Policies [Abstract]

Basis of Presentation

Basis of Presentation. The accompanying unaudited condensed consolidated financial statements of Silgan Holdings Inc., or Silgan, have been prepared in accordance with U.S. generally accepted accounting principles, or GAAP, for interim financial information and with the instructions to Form 10-Q and Article 10 of Regulation S-X.  Accordingly, they do not include all of the information and footnotes required by GAAP for complete financial statements.  In the opinion of management, the accompanying financial statements include all adjustments (consisting of normal recurring accruals) considered necessary for a fair presentation.  The results of operations for any interim period are not necessarily indicative of the results of operations for the full year.

The Condensed Consolidated Balance Sheet at December 31, 2019 has been derived from our audited consolidated financial statements at that date, but does not include all of the information and footnotes required by GAAP for complete financial statements.

You should read the accompanying condensed consolidated financial statements in conjunction with our consolidated financial statements and notes thereto included in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2019.

Recently Issued Accounting Pronouncements

Recently Adopted Accounting Pronouncements. In June 2016, the Financial Accounting Standards Board, or FASB, issued an accounting standards update, or ASU, that amends the guidance on the accounting for credit losses on financial instruments. This new standard introduces an approach, based on expected losses, to estimate credit losses on certain types of financial instruments. The new approach to estimating credit losses (referred to as the current expected credit losses model) applies to most financial assets measured at amortized cost and certain other instruments, including trade and other receivables. We adopted this new standard on January 1, 2020 using the transition method, which allowed us to recognize the effects of applying this standard as a cumulative effect to retained earnings as of January 1, 2020. As a result of the adoption of this standard, we reduced retained earnings by $0.7 million. The adoption of this standard did not have a material impact on our financial position, results of operations or cash flows.