NEW ACCOUNTING STANDARDS

9 Months Ended

Sep. 30, 2020

Accounting Changes and Error Corrections [Abstract]

NEW ACCOUNTING STANDARDS

NEW ACCOUNTING STANDARDS

We describe below recent accounting pronouncements that have had or may have a significant effect on our financial condition, results of operations, cash flows or disclosures.

ASU 2016-13, “Measurement of Credit Losses on Financial Instruments”: ASU 2016-13, as amended by subsequently issued ASUs, changes how entities measure credit losses for most financial assets and certain other instruments. The standard introduces an “expected credit loss” impairment model that requires immediate recognition of estimated credit losses expected to occur over the remaining life of most financial assets measured at amortized cost, including trade and other receivables, loan receivables and commitments and financial guarantees. ASU 2016-13 also requires use of an allowance to record estimated credit losses on available-for-sale debt securities and expands disclosure requirements regarding an entity’s assumptions, models and methods for estimating the credit losses. We adopted the standard on January 1, 2020 using a modified retrospective approach through a cumulative-effect adjustment to retained earnings. The adoption primarily impacted the expected credit losses associated with accounts receivable balances, amounts due from unconsolidated affiliates and off-balance sheet financial guarantees. There was an insignificant impact to SDG&E’s or SoCalGas’ balance sheets from adoption. The following table shows the initial (decreases) increases on Sempra Energy’s balance sheet at January 1, 2020 from adoption of ASU 2016-13.

IMPACT FROM ADOPTION OF ASU 2016-13
(Dollars in millions)
	Sempra Energy
Accounts receivable – trade, net	$	(1)
Due from unconsolidated affiliates – noncurrent	(6)
Deferred income tax assets	4
Other current liabilities	4
Deferred credits and other	2
Retained earnings	(7)
Other noncontrolling interests	(2)

ASU 2017-04, “Simplifying the Test for Goodwill Impairment”: ASU 2017-04 removes the second step of the goodwill impairment test, which requires a hypothetical purchase price allocation. An entity will be required to apply a one-step quantitative test and record the amount of goodwill impairment as the excess of a reporting unit’s carrying amount over its fair value, not to exceed the carrying amount of goodwill. We adopted ASU 2017-04 on January 1, 2020 and will apply the standard on a prospective basis to our goodwill impairment tests.

ASU 2019-12, “Simplifying the Accounting for Income Taxes”: ASU 2019-12 simplifies certain areas of accounting for income taxes. In addition to other changes, this standard amends ASC 740, “Income Taxes,” as follows:

▪removes the exception to the incremental approach for intraperiod tax allocation when there is a loss from continuing operations and income or a gain from other items, including discontinued operations or other comprehensive income;

▪simplifies the recognition of deferred taxes related to basis differences as a result of ownership changes in investments;

▪specifies an entity is not required to allocate the consolidated amount of current and deferred tax expense to a legal entity that is not subject to tax in its separate financial statements; and

▪requires an entity to reflect the effect of an enacted change in tax laws or rates in the annual ETR computation in the interim period that includes the enactment date.

For public entities, ASU 2019-12 is effective for fiscal years beginning after December 15, 2020, including interim periods therein, with early adoption permitted. The transition method related to the amendments made by ASU 2019-12 varies based on the nature of the change. We will adopt the standard on January 1, 2021 and do not expect it will have a material impact on our financial statements.

ASU 2020-04, “Facilitation of the Effects of Reference Rate Reform on Financial Reporting”: ASU 2020-04 provides optional expedients and exceptions for applying U.S. GAAP to contract modifications that replace LIBOR or another reference rate affected by reference rate reform and to hedging relationships that reference LIBOR or another reference rate that is affected or expected to be affected by reference rate reform. ASU 2020-04 is effective March 12, 2020 and can be applied through December 31, 2022, with certain exceptions for hedging relationships that continue to exist after this date, and may be applied from January 1, 2020. For contract modifications, the standard allows entities to account for modifications as an event that does not require reassessment or remeasurement (i.e., as a continuation of the existing contract). The standard also allows entities to amend their formal designation and documentation of hedging relationships affected or expected to be affected by reference rate reform, without having to de-designate the hedging relationship. Entities may elect the optional expedients and exceptions on an individual hedging relationship basis and independently from one another. We elected the optional expedients for contract modifications. We elected the cash flow hedging expedients to disregard the potential discontinuation of a reference rate when assessing whether a hedged forecasted interest payment is probable and to disregard certain mismatches between the designated hedging instrument and the hedged item when assessing the hedge effectiveness. We are applying these expedients prospectively from January 1, 2020. Application of these expedients preserves the presentation of derivatives consistent with the past presentation.

ASU 2020-06, “Accounting for Convertible Instruments and Contracts in an Entity’s Own Equity”: ASU 2020-06 simplifies the accounting for certain financial instruments with characteristics of liabilities and equity, including convertible instruments and contracts on an entity’s own equity. In addition to other changes, this standard amends ASC 470-20, “Debt with Conversion and Other Options,” by removing the accounting models for instruments with beneficial conversion features and cash conversion features. The standard also amends ASC 260, “Earnings Per Share,” as follows:

▪requires an entity to apply the if-converted method when calculating diluted EPS for convertible instruments and no longer use the treasury stock method, which was previously allowed for certain convertible instruments;

▪requires an entity to include the effect of potential share settlement in the diluted EPS calculation when an instrument may be settled in cash or shares, and no longer allows an entity to rebut the presumption of share settlement if it has a history or policy of cash settlement;

▪requires an entity to include equity-classified convertible preferred stock that contains down-round features whereby, if the down-round feature is triggered, its effect is treated as a dividend and as a reduction of income available to common shareholders in basic EPS;

▪clarifies that the average market price should be used to calculate the diluted EPS denominator when the exercise price or the number of shares that may be issued is variable, except for certain contingently issuable shares; and

▪clarifies that the weighted-average share count from each quarter should be used when calculating the year-to-date weighted-average share count.

For public entities, ASU 2020-06 is effective for fiscal years beginning after December 15, 2021, including interim periods therein, with early adoption permitted for fiscal years beginning after December 15, 2020. An entity can use either a full or modified retrospective approach to adopt ASU 2020-06 and must disclose, in the period of adoption, EPS transition information about the effect of the change on affected per-share amounts. We are currently evaluating the effect of the standard on our ongoing financial reporting and have not yet selected the year in which we will adopt the standard.