Financial Statement Presentation (Policies)

9 Months Ended

Sep. 30, 2016

Organization, Consolidation and Presentation of Financial Statements [Abstract]

Consolidation

Consolidation — In this Quarterly Report the terms “AES,” “the Company,” “us” or “we” refer to the consolidated entity including its subsidiaries and affiliates. The terms “The AES Corporation” or “the Parent Company” refer only to the publicly held holding company, The AES Corporation, excluding its subsidiaries and affiliates. Furthermore, variable interest entities (“VIEs”) in which the Company has a variable interest have been consolidated where the Company is the primary beneficiary. Investments in which the Company has the ability to exercise significant influence, but not control, are accounted for using the equity method of accounting. All intercompany transactions and balances have been eliminated in consolidation.

New Accounting Pronouncements Adopted

New Accounting Pronouncements — The following table provides a brief description of recent accounting pronouncements that had and/or could have a material impact on the Company’s consolidated financial statements. Accounting pronouncements not listed below were assessed and determined to be either not applicable or are expected to have no material impact on the Company’s consolidated financial statements.

New Accounting Standards Adopted
ASU Number and Name	Description	Date of Adoption	Effect on the financial statements upon adoption
2015-03, 2015-15, Interest — Imputation of Interest (Subtopic 835-30)	These standards simplify the presentation of debt issuance costs by requiring that debt issuance costs related to a tranche of debt be presented on the balance sheet as a direct deduction from the carrying amount of that debt, consistent with debt discounts. Debt issuance costs related to a line-of-credit can still be presented as an asset and subsequently amortized over the term of the line-of-credit, regardless of whether there are any outstanding borrowings on the line-of-credit arrangement. The recognition and measurement guidance for debt issuance costs are not affected by the standard. Transition method: retrospective.	January 1, 2016	Deferred financing costs of $24 million previously classified within other current assets and $357 million previously classified within other noncurrent assets were reclassified to reduce the related debt liabilities as of December 31, 2015.
2015-02, Consolidation — Amendments to the Consolidation Analysis (Topic 810)	The standard makes targeted amendments to the current consolidation guidance and ends the deferral granted to investment companies from applying the VIE guidance. The standard amends the evaluation of whether (1) fees paid to a decision-maker or service providers represent a variable interest, (2) a limited partnership or similar entity has the characteristics of a VIE and (3) a reporting entity is the primary beneficiary of a VIE. Transition method: retrospective.	January 1, 2016	None, other than that some entities previously consolidated under the voting model are now consolidated under the VIE model.

New Accounting Standards Issued But Not Yet Effective
ASU Number and Name	Description	Date of Adoption	Effect on the financial statements upon adoption
2016-17, Consolidation (Topic 810): Interest Held through Related Parties That Are under Common Control	This standard amends the evaluation of whether a reporting entity is the primary beneficiary of a VIE by amending how a reporting entity, that is a single decision maker of a VIE, treats indirect interests in that entity held through related parties that are under common control. Transition method: retrospectively.	January 1, 2017. Early adoption is permitted.	The Company is currently evaluating the impact of adopting the standard on its consolidated financial statements.
2016-16, Income Taxes (Topic 740): Intra-Entity Transfers of Assets Other Than Inventory	This standard requires that an entity recognizes the income tax consequences of an intra-entity transfer of an asset other than inventory when the transfer occurs. Transition method: modified retrospective method.	January 1, 2018. Early adoption is permitted.	The Company is currently evaluating the impact of adopting the standard on its consolidated financial statements.
2016-15, Statement of Cash Flows (Topic 230): Classification of Certain Receipts and Cash Payments (a consensus of the Emerging Issues Task Force)	This standard provides specific guidance on how certain cash transactions are presented and classified in the statement of cash flows. Transition method: retrospective method.	January 1, 2018. Early adoption is permitted.	The Company is currently evaluating the impact of adopting the standard, but does not anticipate a material impact on its consolidated financial statements.
2016-13, Financial Instruments-Credit Losses (Topic 326): Measurement of Credit Losses on Financial Instruments	The standard updates the impairment model for financial assets measured at amortized cost to an expected loss model rather than an incurred loss model. It also allows for the presentation of credit losses on available-for-sale debt securities as an allowance rather than a write down. Transition method: various.	January 1, 2020. Early adoption is permitted only as of January 1, 2019.	The Company is currently evaluating the impact of adopting the standard on its consolidated financial statements.
2016-09, Compensation — Stock Compensation (Topic 718): Improvements to Employee Share-Based Payment Accounting	The standard simplifies the following aspects of accounting for share-based payments awards: accounting for income taxes, classification of excess tax benefits on the statement of cash flows, forfeitures, statutory tax withholding requirements, classification of awards as either equity or liabilities and classification of employee taxes paid on statement of cash flows when an employer withholds shares for tax-withholding purposes. Transition method: various.	January 1, 2017. Early adoption is permitted.	The Company is currently evaluating the impact of adopting the standard on its consolidated financial statements.
2016-02, Leases (Topic 842)	The standard creates Topic 842, Leases, which supersedes Topic 840, Leases. It introduces a lessee model that brings substantially all leases onto the balance sheet while retaining most of the principles of the existing lessor model in U.S. GAAP and aligning many of those principles with ASC 606, Revenue from Contracts with Customers. Transition method: modified retrospective approach with certain practical expedients.	January 1, 2019. Early adoption is permitted.	The Company is currently evaluating the impact of adopting the standard on its consolidated financial statements.
2015-11, Inventory (Topic 330): Simplifying the Measurement of Inventory	The standard replaces the current lower of cost or market test with a lower of cost or net realizable value test. Transition method: prospectively.	January 1, 2017. Early adoption is permitted.	The Company is currently evaluating the impact of adopting the standard on its consolidated financial statements.
2014-09, 2015-14, 2016-08, 2016-10, 2016-12, Revenue from Contracts with Customers (Topic 606),	The Revenue from Contracts with Customers standard provides a single and comprehensive revenue recognition model for all contracts with customers to improve comparability. The standard contains principles to determine the measurement and timing of revenue recognition. The standard requires an entity to recognize revenue to depict the transfer of goods or services to customers at an amount that the entity expects to be entitled to in exchange for those goods or services. The amendments to the standard provide further clarification on contract revenue recognition specifically related to the implementation of the principal versus agent evaluation, the identification of performance obligations, clarification on accounting for licenses of intellectual property, and allows for the election to account for shipping and handling activities performed after control of a good has been transferred to the customer as a fulfillment cost. Transition method: a full retrospective or modified retrospective approach.	January 1, 2018. Earlier application is permitted only as of January 1, 2017.	The Company will adopt the standard on January 1, 2018; and it is currently evaluating the impact of its adoption on the consolidated financial statements.

Commitments and Contingencies

Litigation —The Company is involved in certain claims, suits and legal proceedings in the normal course of business. The Company accrues for litigation and claims when it is probable that a liability has been incurred and the amount of loss can be reasonably estimated.

Segment Reporting

The segment reporting structure uses the Company’s management reporting structure as its foundation to reflect how the Company manages the businesses internally and is organized by geographic regions which provides a socio-political-economic understanding of our business. The management reporting structure is organized by six SBUs led by our President and Chief Executive Officer: US; Andes; Brazil; MCAC; Europe; and Asia SBUs. Using the accounting guidance on segment reporting, the Company determined that it has six reportable segments corresponding to its six SBUs.

Corporate and Other — Corporate overhead costs which are not directly associated with the operations of our six reportable segments are included in “Corporate and Other.” Also included are certain intercompany charges such as self-insurance premiums which are fully eliminated in consolidation.

The Company uses Adjusted PTC as its primary segment performance measure. Adjusted PTC, a non-GAAP measure, is defined by the Company as pretax income from continuing operations attributable to AES excluding (1) unrealized gains or losses related to derivative transactions, (2) unrealized foreign currency gains or losses, (3) gains or losses due to dispositions and acquisitions of business interests, (4) losses due to impairments, and (5) costs due to the early retirement of debt. The Company has concluded that Adjusted PTC best reflects the underlying business performance of the Company and is the most relevant measure considered in the Company’s internal evaluation of the financial performance of its segments. Additionally, given its large number of businesses and complexity, the Company concluded that Adjusted PTC is a more transparent measure that better assists investors in determining which businesses have the greatest impact on the Company’s results.

Revenue and Adjusted PTC are presented before inter-segment eliminations, which includes the effect of intercompany transactions with other segments except for interest, charges for certain management fees, and the write-off of intercompany balances, as applicable. All intra-segment activity has been eliminated within the segment. Inter-segment activity has been eliminated within the total consolidated results.

Earnings Per Share

Basic and diluted earnings per share are based on the weighted average number of shares of common stock and potential common stock outstanding during the period. Potential common stock, for purposes of determining diluted earnings per share, includes the effects of dilutive RSUs, stock options and convertible securities. The effect of such potential common stock is computed using the treasury stock method or the if-converted method, as applicable.