NOTE 1 – SUMMARY OF SIGNIFICANT ACCOUNTING POLICIES

BASIS OF PRESENTATION

The accompanying Unaudited Condensed Consolidated Financial Statements include the accounts of AptarGroup, Inc. and our subsidiaries. The terms “AptarGroup” or “Company” as used herein refer to AptarGroup, Inc. and our subsidiaries. All significant intercompany accounts and transactions have been eliminated. Certain previously reported amounts have been reclassified to conform to the current period presentation.

In the opinion of management, the Unaudited Condensed Consolidated Financial Statements include all adjustments, consisting of only normal recurring adjustments, necessary for a fair statement of consolidated financial position, results of operations, comprehensive income, changes in equity and cash flows for the interim periods presented. The accompanying Unaudited Condensed Consolidated Financial Statements have been prepared by the Company, pursuant to the rules and regulations of the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”). Certain information and footnote disclosures normally included in financial statements prepared in accordance with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America (“GAAP”) have been condensed or omitted pursuant to such rules and regulations, although the Company believes that the disclosures made are adequate to make the information presented not misleading. Also, certain financial position data included herein was derived from the Audited Consolidated Financial Statements included in the Company’s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2015 but does not include all disclosures required by GAAP. Accordingly, these Unaudited Condensed Consolidated Financial Statements and related notes should be read in conjunction with the Audited Consolidated Financial Statements and notes thereto included in the Company’s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2015. The results of operations of any interim period are not necessarily indicative of the results that may be expected for the year.

CHANGE IN ACCOUNTING PRINCIPLE

During the second quarter of 2015, the Company changed its inventory valuation method for certain operating entities in its North American business to the first-in first-out (FIFO) method from the last-in first-out (LIFO) method. Prior to the change, the Company utilized two methods of inventory costing: LIFO for inventories in these operating entities and FIFO for inventories in other operating entities. The Company believes that the FIFO method is preferable as it better reflects the current value of inventory on the Company’s Condensed Consolidated Balance Sheet, provides better matching of revenues and expenses, results in uniformity across the Company’s global operations with respect to the method of inventory accounting and improves comparability with the Company’s peers. The change to the FIFO method was not applied retrospectively because the impact to previously issued financial statements or to the trend of reported results of operations was immaterial. The first quarter 2015 results included a $342 thousand gain on LIFO adjustment and the first quarter 2015 Condensed Consolidated Balance Sheet included a LIFO reserve of $7.4 million.

ADOPTION OF RECENT ACCOUNTING PRONOUNCEMENTS

Changes to GAAP are established by the Financial Accounting Standards Board (“FASB”) in the form of accounting standards updates to the FASB’s Accounting Standards Codification.

In May 2014, the FASB amended the guidance for recognition of revenue from customer contracts. The core principle of the guidance is that an entity should recognize revenue to depict the transfer of promised goods or services to customers in the amount that reflects the consideration to which the entity expects to be entitled in exchange for those goods or services. In August 2015, the FASB decided to defer the effective date by one year to December 15, 2017 for annual reporting periods beginning after that date. The FASB also decided to allow early adoption of the standard, but not before the original effective date of December 15, 2016. We are currently evaluating the impact the adoption of this standard will have on our Consolidated Financial Statements.

In April 2015, the FASB issued an Accounting Standards Update (“ASU”) intended to simplify GAAP by changing the presentation of debt issuance costs. Under the new standard, debt issuance costs will be presented as a reduction of the carrying amount of the related liability, rather than as an asset. The new treatment is consistent with debt discounts. In August 2015, the FASB issued an ASU clarifying that debt issuance costs related to line of credit arrangements can be classified as an asset and amortized ratably over the term of the line of credit arrangement. These standards are effective for annual reporting periods beginning after December 15, 2015. The Company has implemented these standards within the current financial statements and retrospectively applied the changes to the prior periods as required, which resulted in a $1.7 million reclassification from Intangible Assets to Current Maturities of Long-Term Obligations and Long-Term Obligations in the December 31, 2015 Consolidated Balance Sheet.

In April 2015, the FASB issued new guidance on a customer's accounting for fees paid in a cloud computing arrangement (“CCA”). Previously, there was no specific GAAP guidance on accounting for such fees from the customer's perspective. Under the new standard, customers will apply the same criteria as vendors to determine whether a CCA contains a software license or is solely a service contract. This standard is effective for annual reporting periods beginning after December 15, 2015. The Company has adopted the requirements of the standard with respect to its current CCAs and has determined that the impact is not material to our current year financial statements.

In May 2015, the FASB issued new guidance on investment disclosures. Investments measured at net asset value (“NAV”), as a practical expedient for fair value, are excluded from the fair value hierarchy. Removing investments measured using the practical expedient from the fair value hierarchy is intended to eliminate the diversity in practice that currently exists with respect to the categorization of these investments. The Company has adopted the standard and determined that there was no impact to the current period financial statements and that the presentation of pension plan investment fair value hierarchy tables in the annual financial statements will be updated accordingly.

In November 2015, the FASB issued guidance which simplifies the balance sheet classification of deferred taxes. The new guidance requires that deferred tax liabilities and assets be presented as non-current in a classified statement of financial position. This standard is effective for annual reporting periods beginning after December 15, 2016. The Company has prospectively adopted the requirements of the standard and updated the presentation of our classified statement of financial position accordingly.

Other accounting standards that have been issued by the FASB or other standards-setting bodies did not have a material impact on our Consolidated Financial Statements.

RETIREMENT OF COMMON STOCK

During the first quarter of 2016, the Company repurchased and immediately retired 113 thousand shares of common stock. Common stock was reduced by the number of shares retired at $0.01 par value per share. The excess of purchase price over par value may be charged entirely to retained earnings or may be allocated between additional paid-in capital and retained earnings. The Company has elected to allocate the excess purchase price over par value between additional paid-in capital and retained earnings.

INCOME TAXES

The Company computes taxes on income in accordance with the tax rules and regulations of the many taxing authorities where income is earned. The income tax rates imposed by these taxing authorities may vary substantially. Taxable income may differ from pre-tax income for financial accounting purposes. To the extent that these differences create differences between the tax basis of an asset or liability and our reported amount in the financial statements, an appropriate provision for deferred income taxes is made.

In making the determination of which foreign earnings are permanently reinvested in foreign operations, the Company considers numerous factors, including the financial requirements of the U.S. parent company and those of our foreign subsidiaries, the U.S. funding needs for dividend payments and stock repurchases, and the tax consequences of remitting earnings to the U.S. From this analysis, current year repatriation decisions are made in an attempt to provide a proper mix of debt and shareholder capital both within the U.S. and for non-U.S. operations. The Company's policy is to permanently reinvest our accumulated foreign earnings and the Company will only make a distribution out of current year earnings to meet the cash needs at the parent company. As such, the Company does not provide for taxes on earnings that are deemed to be permanently reinvested.

The Company provides a liability for the amount of tax benefits realized from uncertain tax positions. This liability is provided whenever the Company determines that a tax benefit will not meet a more-likely-than-not threshold for recognition. See Note 4 of the Unaudited Notes to the Condensed Consolidated Financial Statements for more information.

REVISION OF PRIOR PERIOD FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

During the third quarter of 2015, the Company determined that it had incorrectly accounted for the reissuance of treasury shares in connection with certain employee stock option exercises. The Company’s policy is to reissue treasury shares at cost on a first-in, first-out (FIFO) basis. However, beginning in 2007 shares were reissued at a cost other than FIFO. The effect of correcting this error results in a credit adjustment to the treasury stock at cost with a corresponding debit adjustment to the capital in excess of par value. As this adjustment represents a reclassification between two accounts within Stockholders’ Equity, the Condensed Consolidated Balance Sheets and the Condensed Consolidated Statements of Changes in Equity are impacted by this change. The revisions, which the Company determined are not material, had no impact on consolidated results of operations or cash flows. Following is a summary of the previously issued financial statement line items impacted by this revision for all periods and statements included in this report:


	As Previously
	Reported		Adjustment		As Revised
Revised Condensed Consolidated Statements of Changes in Equity
Balance – December 31, 2014
Capital in excess of par value	$	507,313	$	(8,611)	$	498,702
Treasury Stock		(1,034,728)		8,611		(1,026,117)
Total Equity		1,103,916		—		1,103,916
Stock option exercises & restricted stock vestings
Capital in excess of par value	$	33,250	$	(1,078)	$	32,172
Treasury Stock		1		1,078		1,079
Total Equity		33,256		—		33,256
Balance – March 31, 2015
Capital in excess of par value	$	540,563	$	(9,689)	$	530,874
Treasury Stock		(1,034,727)		9,689		(1,025,038)
Total Equity		1,026,798		—		1,026,798