Significant Accounting Policies (Policies)

3 Months Ended

Mar. 31, 2013

Significant accounting policies [Abstract]

Reclassifications

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 15—Discontinued Operations and Held for Sale Businesses.

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”, “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.

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, comprehensive income and cash flows. The results of operations for the three months ended March 31, 2013 are not necessarily indicative of results that may be expected for the year ending December 31, 2013. The accompanying condensed consolidated financial statements are unaudited and should be read in conjunction with the 2012 audited consolidated financial statements and notes thereto, which are included in the 2012 Form 10-K filed with the SEC on February 26, 2013 (the “2012 Form 10-K”).

Commitments And Contingencies Policy

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. The Company has evaluated claims in accordance with the accounting guidance for contingencies that it deems both probable and reasonably estimable and, accordingly, has recorded aggregate reserves for all claims of approximately $345 million and $321 million as of March 31, 2013 and December 31, 2012, respectively. These reserves are reported on the condensed consolidated balance sheets within “accrued and other liabilities” and “other noncurrent liabilities.” A significant portion of the reserves relate to employment, non-income tax and customer disputes in international jurisdictions, principally Brazil. Certain of the Company's subsidiaries, principally in Brazil, are defendants in a number of labor and employment lawsuits. The complaints generally seek unspecified monetary damages, injunctive relief, or other relief. The subsidiaries have denied any liability and intend to vigorously defend themselves in all of these proceedings. There can be no assurance that these reserves will be adequate to cover all existing and future claims or that we will have the liquidity to pay such claims as they arise.

Segment Reporting General Information

The segment reporting structure uses the Company’s management reporting structure as its foundation to reflect how the Company manages the business internally with further aggregation by geographic regions to provide better socio-political-economic understanding of our business. The management reporting structure is organized along six strategic business units (“SBUs”) – led by our Chief Operating Officer (“COO”), who in turn reports to our Chief Executive Officer (“CEO”). Upon the application of the accounting guidance for segment reporting, the Company has identified eight reportable segments based on the six strategic business units: US – Generation; US – Utilities; Andes – Generation; Brazil – Generation; Brazil – Utilities; MCAC – Generation; EMEA – Generation; and Asia – Generation. Corporate and Other— The Company’s EMEA and MCAC Utilities operating segments are reported within “Corporate and Other” because they do not meet the criteria to allow for aggregation with another operating segment or the quantitative thresholds that would require separate disclosure under the segment reporting accounting guidance. None of these operating segments are currently material to our presentation of reportable segments, individually or in the aggregate. AES Solar and certain other unconsolidated businesses are accounted for using the equity method of accounting; therefore, their operating results are included in “Net Equity in Earnings of Affiliates” on the face of the Consolidated Statements of Operations, not in revenue or Adjusted pre-tax contribution (“Adjusted PTC”). “Corporate and Other” also includes corporate overhead costs which are not directly associated with the operations of our eight reportable segments and other 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 pre-tax income from continuing operations attributable to AES excluding unrealized gains or losses related to derivative transactions, unrealized foreign currency gains or losses, gains or losses due to dispositions and acquisitions of business interests, losses due to impairments and 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 the investor in determining which businesses have the greatest impact on the overall Company results.   Total revenue includes inter-segment revenue related to the transfer of electricity from generation plants to utilities within Brazil. No material inter-segment revenue relationships exist between other segments. Corporate allocations include certain self-insurance activities which are reflected within segment adjusted PTC. All intra-segment activity has been eliminated with respect to revenue and adjusted PTC within the segment. Inter-segment activity has been eliminated within the total consolidated results. Asset information for businesses that were discontinued or classified as held for sale as of March 31, 2013 is segregated and is shown in the line “Discontinued Businesses” in the accompanying segment tables.

Earnings Per Share Policy

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 restricted stock units, 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.