New Accounting Standards

3 Months Ended

Mar. 31, 2017

Accounting Changes And Error Corrections [Abstract]

New Accounting Standards

3. New Accounting Standards

In January 2017, the Financial Accounting Standards Board (“FASB”) issued Accounting Standards Update (“ASU”) 2017-04: Intangibles – Goodwill and Other (Topic 350): Simplifying the Test for Goodwill Impairment. This standard requires entities to measure goodwill impairment using the difference between the carrying amount and the fair value of the reporting unit, instead of performing a hypothetical purchase price allocation. This guidance is effective beginning January 1, 2020, although early adoption is permitted. The adoption of this guidance would only impact the measurement of a future goodwill impairment to the extent applicable.

In October 2016, the FASB issued ASU 2016-16, Income Taxes (Topic 740): Intra-Entity Transfers of Assets Other Than Inventory, which removes the prohibition against immediate recognition of current and deferred income tax effects on intra-entity transfers of assets other than inventory. We elected to early adopt this standard as of January 1, 2017, and recorded a $3.2 million cumulative effect adjustment to the beginning balance of retained earnings in the first quarter of 2017 for the net impact of increasing deferred tax assets by $2.6 million and decreasing a deferred tax charge in other assets by $5.8 million related to a prior period intra-entity transfer of intellectual property.

In August 2016, the FASB issued ASU 2016-15, Statement of Cash Flows (Topic 230): Classification of Certain Cash Receipts and Cash Payments, which clarifies how cash receipts and cash payments are classified in the statement of cash flows. This standard is effective January 1, 2018, although early adoption is permitted.  We do not expect the adoption of this guidance to have a material impact on our consolidated financial statements.

In March 2016, the FASB issued ASU 2016-09, Compensation - Stock Compensation (Topic 718): Improvements to Employee Share-Based Payment Accounting. This standard makes several modifications to Topic 718, including the accounting for forfeitures, employer tax withholding on share-based compensation, income tax consequences, and clarifies the statement of cash flows presentation for certain components of share-based awards, all of which are intended to simplify various aspects of the accounting for share-based compensation. The ASU requires that the difference between the actual tax expense or benefit realized upon option exercise or restricted share or restricted stock unit release and the tax expense or benefit recorded based on the fair value of the stock award at the time of grant (the “excess tax benefits or detriment”) is to be reflected as an increase or reduction to the current period provision for income taxes rather than as a component of changes to additional paid-in capital. We adopted this standard as of January 1, 2017, and recorded $0.3 million benefit related to the excess benefits realized from stock compensation transactions during the three months ended March 31, 2017. The actual benefit or detriment realized in future periods cannot be precisely estimated and will vary based on the timing and relative value realized for future share-based transactions. Additionally, we elected to recognize forfeiture expense as forfeitures occur, rather than estimating forfeitures based on historical data. This election had no impact on our consolidated financial statements.  

In February 2016, the FASB issued ASU 2016-02, Leases (Topic 842), that replaces existing lease guidance. Under this ASU, we will be required to record right-of-use assets and corresponding lease liabilities on the balance sheet. This guidance is effective beginning January 1, 2019. The new standard is required to be applied with a modified retrospective approach to each prior reporting period presented. We have not yet determined the impact that the adoption of this guidance will have on our consolidated financial statements.

In May 2014, the FASB issued ASU 2014-09, Revenue from Contracts with Customers (Topic 606). Under this ASU and subsequently issued amendments, revenues are recognized at the time when goods or services are transferred to a customer in an amount that reflects the consideration it expects to receive in exchange for those goods or services. Companies may use either a full retrospective or a modified retrospective approach to adopt this ASU. We believe that the adoption of this standard will impact engagements that contain variable fee arrangements including those in which we earn a completion fee when and if certain predefined outcomes occur, and certain engagements with fixed-fees that have multiple performance obligations. We will adopt this standard using the modified retrospective method effective January 1, 2018.