Financial Statement Presentation

9 Months Ended

Sep. 30, 2019

Organization, Consolidation and Presentation of Financial Statements [Abstract]

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, 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.

Interim Financial Presentation — The accompanying unaudited condensed consolidated financial statements and footnotes have been prepared in accordance with GAAP, as contained in the FASB ASC, for interim financial information and Article 10 of Regulation S-X issued by the SEC. Accordingly, they do not include all the information and footnotes required by GAAP for annual fiscal reporting periods. In the opinion of management, the interim financial information includes all adjustments of a normal recurring nature necessary for a fair presentation of the results of operations, financial position, comprehensive income, changes in equity and cash flows. The results of operations for the three and nine months ended September 30, 2019, are not necessarily indicative of expected results for the year ending December 31, 2019. The accompanying condensed consolidated financial statements are unaudited and should be read in conjunction with the 2018 audited consolidated financial statements and notes thereto, which are included in the 2018 Form 10-K filed with the SEC on February 26, 2019 (the “2018 Form 10-K”).

Cash, Cash Equivalents, and Restricted Cash — The following table provides a summary of cash, cash equivalents, and restricted cash amounts reported on the Condensed Consolidated Balance Sheet that reconcile to the total of such amounts as shown on the Condensed Consolidated Statements of Cash Flows (in millions):



	September 30, 2019		December 31, 2018
Cash and cash equivalents	$	1,145	$	1,166
Restricted cash	455		370
Debt service reserves and other deposits	241		467
Cash, Cash Equivalents, and Restricted Cash	$	1,841	$	2,003

New Accounting Pronouncements Adopted in 2019 — The following table provides a brief description of recent accounting pronouncements that had an impact on the Company’s consolidated financial statements. Accounting pronouncements not listed below were assessed and determined to be either not applicable or did not have a 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
2018-02, Income Statement — Reporting Comprehensive Income (Topic 220), Reclassification of Certain Tax Effects from AOCI	This amendment allows a reclassification of the stranded tax effects resulting from the implementation of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act from AOCI to retained earnings at the election of the filer. Because this amendment only relates to the reclassification of the income tax effects of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, the underlying guidance that requires that the effect of a change in tax laws or rates be included in income from continuing operations is not affected.	January 1, 2019	The Company has not elected to reclassify any amounts to retained earnings. The Company’s accounting policy for releasing the income tax effects from AOCI occurs on a portfolio basis.
2017-12, Derivatives and Hedging (Topic 815): Targeted improvements to Accounting for Hedging Activities	The standard updates the hedge accounting model to expand the ability to hedge nonfinancial and financial risk components, reduce complexity, and ease certain documentation and assessment requirements. When facts and circumstances are the same as at the previous quantitative test, a subsequent quantitative effectiveness test is not required. The standard also eliminates the requirement to separately measure and report hedge ineffectiveness. For cash flow hedges, this means that the entire change in the fair value of a hedging instrument will be recorded in other comprehensive income and amounts deferred will be reclassified to earnings in the same income statement line as the hedged item. Transition method: modified retrospective with the cumulative effect adjustment recorded to the opening balance of retained earnings as of the initial application date. Prospective for presentation and disclosures.	January 1, 2019	The adoption of this standard resulted in a $4 million decrease to accumulated deficit.



2014-09, 2015-14, 2016-08, 2016-10, 2016-12, 2016-20, 2017-10, 2017-13, Revenue from Contracts with Customers (Topic 606)	ASC 606 was adopted by sPower on January 1, 2019. sPower was not required to adopt ASC 606 using the public adoption date, as sPower is an equity method investee that meets the definition of a public business entity only by virtue of the inclusion of its summarized financial information in the Company’s SEC filings. Under the previous revenue standard, the payment received by sPower for the transfer of Incentive Tax Credits related to projects was deferred and recognized in revenue over time. Under ASC 606, this payment is recognized at a point in time.	January 1, 2019	The adoption of this standard resulted in a $6 million decrease to accumulated deficit attributable to the AES Corporation stockholders’ equity.
2016-02, 2018-01, 2018-10, 2018-11, 2018-20, 2019-01, Leases (Topic 842)	See discussion of the ASU below.	January 1, 2019	See impact upon adoption of the standard below.

On January 1, 2019, the Company adopted ASC 842 Leases and its subsequent corresponding updates (“ASC 842”). Under this standard, lessees are required to recognize assets and liabilities for most leases on the balance sheet, and recognize expenses in a manner similar to the prior accounting method. For lessors, the guidance modifies the lease classification criteria and the accounting for sales-type and direct financing leases. The guidance eliminates previous real estate-specific provisions.

Under ASC 842, fewer of our contracts contain a lease. However, due to the elimination of the real estate-specific guidance and changes to certain lessor classification criteria, more leases qualify as sales-type leases and direct financing leases. Under these two models, a lessor derecognizes the asset and recognizes a lease receivable. According to ASC 842, the lease receivable includes the fair value of the asset after the contract period, but does not include variable payments such as margin on the sale of energy. Therefore, the lease receivable could be significantly different than the carrying amount of the underlying asset at lease commencement. In such circumstances, the difference between the initially recognized lease receivable and the carrying amount of the underlying asset is recognized as a gain/loss at lease commencement.

During the course of adopting ASC 842, the Company applied various practical expedients including:


•	The package of practical expedients (applied to all leases) that allowed lessees and lessors not to reassess:


a.	whether any expired or existing contracts are or contain leases,


b.	lease classification for any expired or existing leases, and


c.	whether initial direct costs for any expired or existing leases qualify for capitalization under ASC 842.


•	The transition practical expedient related to land easements, allowing us to carry forward our accounting treatment for land easements on existing agreements, and


•	The transition practical expedient for lessees that allowed businesses to not separate lease and non-lease components. The Company applied the practical expedient to all classes of underlying assets when valuing right-of-use assets and lease liabilities. Contracts where the Company is the lessor were separated between the lease and non-lease components.

The Company applied the modified retrospective method of adoption and elected to continue to apply the guidance in ASC 840 Leases to the comparative periods presented in the year of adoption. Under this transition method, the Company applied the transition provisions starting at the date of adoption. The cumulative effect of the adoption of ASC 842 on our January 1, 2019 Condensed Consolidated Balance Sheet was as follows (in millions):



Condensed Consolidated Balance Sheet	Balance at December 31, 2018		Adjustments Due to ASC 842		Balance at January 1, 2019
Assets
Other noncurrent assets	$	1,514	$	253	$	1,767
Liabilities
Accrued and other liabilities	962		27		989
Other noncurrent liabilities	2,723		226		2,949

The primary impact of adoption was due to the recognition of a right-of-use-asset and lease liability for an operating land lease in Panama associated with the Colon LNG power plant and regasification terminal.

New Accounting Pronouncements Issued But Not Yet Effective — The following table provides a brief description of recent accounting pronouncements that could have a material impact on the Company’s consolidated financial statements once adopted. 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 Issued But Not Yet Effective
ASU Number and Name	Description	Date of Adoption	Effect on the financial statements upon adoption
2016-13, 2018-19, 2019-04, 2019-05, Financial Instruments — Credit Losses (Topic 326): Measurement of Credit Losses on Financial Instruments	See discussion of the ASU below.	January 1, 2020. Early adoption is permitted only as of January 1, 2019.	The Company will adopt the standard on January 1, 2020; see below for the evaluation of the impact of the adoption on the consolidated financial statements.

ASU 2016-13 and its subsequent corresponding updates will update the impairment model for financial assets measured at amortized cost, known as the Current Expected Credit Loss (“CECL”) model. For trade and other receivables, held-to-maturity debt securities, loans and other instruments, entities will be required to use a new forward-looking "expected loss" model that generally will result in the earlier recognition of allowance for losses. For available-for-sale debt securities with unrealized losses, entities will measure credit losses as it is done today, except that unrealized losses due to credit-related factors will be recognized as an allowance on the balance sheet with a corresponding adjustment to earnings in the income statement. There are various transition methods available upon adoption.

The Company is currently evaluating the impact of adopting the standard on its consolidated financial statements; however, it is expected that the new current expected credit loss model will primarily impact the calculation of the Company’s expected credit losses on $1.5 billion in gross trade accounts receivable, the $1.4 billion loan receivable at Mong Duong, and $65 million in financing receivables in Argentina. Estimated credit losses, if material, will be presented on the face of the balance sheet as an allowance that reduces the amortized cost basis of affected financial assets. The standard will also impact the presentation of expected credit-related losses (if any) for the Company’s $265 million of available-for-sale debt securities, which will be presented parenthetically as an allowance on the consolidated balance sheet.