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Financial Statement Presentation
3 Months Ended
Jun. 30, 2011
FINANCIAL STATEMENT PRESENTATION

1. FINANCIAL STATEMENT PRESENTATION

The prior period condensed consolidated financial statements in this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q (“Form 10-Q”) have been reclassified to reflect the businesses held for sale and discontinued operations as discussed in Note 15Discontinued Operations and Held for Sale Businesses.

On June 1, 2011, The AES Corporation filed a Current Report on Form 8-K (“June 2011 Form 8-K”) to recast previously filed financial statements included in the Company's Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2010 (“2010 Form 10-K”) to reclassify certain businesses held for sale as discussed in Note 15—Discontinued Operations and Held for Sale Businesses. The revisions to the 2010 Form 10-K were limited to the Company's Business Overview, Selected Financial Data, Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations and the Consolidated Financial Statements and Notes contained in Items 1, 6, 7 and 8, respectively. All other information in the 2010 Form 10-K remains unchanged.

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”, “the Parent” 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.

AES Thames, LLC (“Thames”), a 208 MW coal−fired plant in Connecticut, filed petitions for bankruptcy protection under Chapter 11 in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court on February 1, 2011. Effective that date, the Company lost control of the business and is no longer able to exercise significant influence over its operating and financial policies. In accordance with the accounting guidance on consolidations, Thames was deconsolidated in February 2011 and is now accounted for as a cost method investment. Thames had total assets and total liabilities of $158 million and $170 million, respectively, on February 1, 2011. The deconsolidation resulted in a gain of $12 million, which was deferred pending the completion of the bankruptcy proceedings.

Interim Financial Presentation

The accompanying unaudited condensed consolidated financial statements and footnotes have been prepared in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles in the United States of America (“U.S. GAAP”), as contained in the Financial Accounting Standards Board (“FASB”) Accounting Standards Codification, for interim financial information and Article 10 of Regulation S-X issued by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”). Accordingly, they do not include all the information and footnotes required by U.S. 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, changes in equity and cash flows. The results of operations for the three and six months ended June 30, 2011 are not necessarily indicative of results that may be expected for the year ending December 31, 2011. The accompanying condensed consolidated financial statements are unaudited and should be read in conjunction with the 2010 audited consolidated financial statements and notes thereto, which are included in the June 2011 Form 8-K.

Change in Estimate

On January 1, 2011, the Company changed its estimates related to depreciation on property, plant and equipment at its Brazilian concessionary utility and generation businesses. Based on recent information received from regulators, the depreciation rates and salvage values for its concession assets were adjusted on a prospective basis to reflect a remuneration basis, which equates to the reimbursement expected by the Company at the end of the respective concession periods. For the three months ended June 30, 2011, the impact to the condensed consolidated statement of operations was an increase in depreciation expense of $18 million and a decrease in net income attributable to The AES Corporation of $5 million, or $0.01 per share. For the six months ended June 30, 2011, the impact to the condensed consolidated statement of operations was an increase in depreciation expense of $35 million and a decrease in net income attributable to The AES Corporation of $9 million, or $0.01 per share.

New Accounting Policies Adopted

Accounting Standards Update (“ASU”) No. 2009-13, Revenue Recognition (Topic 605), “Multiple-Deliverable Revenue Arrangements”

In October 2009, the FASB issued ASU No. 2009-13, which amended the accounting guidance related to revenue recognition. The amended guidance provides primarily two changes to the prior guidance for multiple-element revenue arrangements. The first eliminated the requirement that there be “objective and reliable evidence” of fair value for any undelivered items in order for a delivered item to be treated as a separate unit of accounting. The second required that the consideration from multiple-element revenue arrangements be allocated to all the deliverables based on their relative selling price at the inception of the arrangement. AES adopted the standard on January 1, 2011. AES elected prospective adoption and applied the revised guidance to all revenue arrangements entered into or materially modified after the date of adoption. The adoption of ASU No. 2009-13 did not have a material impact on the financial position and results of operations of AES and is not expected to have a material impact in future periods.

ASU No. 2010-28, Intangibles—Goodwill and Other (Topic 350), “When to Perform Step 2 of the Goodwill Impairment Test for Reporting Units with Zero or Negative Carrying Amounts”

In December 2010, the FASB issued ASU No. 2010-28, which amended the accounting guidance related to goodwill. The amendment modified Step One of the goodwill impairment test for reporting units with zero or negative carrying amounts. For those reporting units, an entity is required to perform Step Two of the goodwill impairment test if it is more likely than not that a goodwill impairment exists, eliminating an entity's ability to assert that a reporting unit is not required to perform Step Two because the carrying amount of the reporting unit is zero or negative, despite the existence of qualitative factors that indicate the goodwill is more likely than not impaired. In determining whether it is more likely than not that a goodwill impairment exists, an entity should consider whether there are any adverse qualitative factors indicating that an impairment may exist. The Company adopted ASU No. 2010-28 on January 1, 2011. The adoption did not have any impact on the Company as none of its reporting units with goodwill has a zero or negative carrying amount.

Accounting Pronouncements Issued But Not Yet Effective

As of June 30, 2011, the following accounting standards have been issued, but are not yet effective for, and have not been adopted by AES.

ASU No. 2011-2, Receivables (Topic 310), “A Creditor's Determination of Whether a Restructuring Is a Troubled Debt Restructuring

In April 2011, the FASB issued ASU No. 2011-2, which provides additional guidance and clarification to help creditors determine whether a creditor has granted a concession and whether a debtor is experiencing financial difficulties for purposes of determining whether a restructuring constitutes a troubled debt restructuring. ASU No. 2011-2 is effective for the first interim or annual period beginning on or after June 15, 2011, or July 1, 2011 for AES. The adoption is not expected to have a material impact on the Company's financial position, results of operations or cash flows.

ASU No. 2011-4, Fair Value Measurements (Topic 820), “Amendments to Achieve Common Fair Value Measurement and Disclosure Requirements in U.S. GAAP and IFRS”

In May 2011, the FASB issued ASU No. 2011-4, which among other requirements, prohibits the use of the block discount factor for all fair value level hierarchies; permits an entity to measure the fair value of its financial instruments on a net basis when the related market risks are managed on a net basis; states the highest and best use concept is no longer relevant in the measurement of financial assets and liabilities; clarifies that a reporting entity should disclose quantitative information about the unobservable inputs used in Level 3 measurements and that the application of premiums and discounts is related to the unit of account for the asset or liability being measured at fair value; and requires expanded disclosures to describe the valuation process used for Level 3 measurements and the sensitivity of Level 3 measurements to changes in unobservable inputs. In addition, entities are required to disclose the hierarchy level for items which are not measured at fair value in the statement of financial position, but for which fair value is required to be disclosed. ASU No. 2011-4 is effective for the first interim or annual period beginning on or after December 15, 2011, or January 1, 2012 for AES. The adoption is not expected to have a material impact on the Company's financial position, results of operations or cash flows.