Derivative Instruments and Hedging Activities

The Company is exposed to certain risks relating to its ongoing business operations. From time to time, the primary risks managed by using derivative instruments are foreign currency risk, interest rate risk and commodity price fluctuations. Derivative contracts on various currencies are entered into in order to manage foreign currency exposures associated with certain product sourcing activities and intercompany cash flows. Interest rate swaps are occasionally entered into in order to maintain a balanced risk of fixed and floating interest rates associated with the Company’s long-term debt. Commodity hedging contracts are occasionally entered into in order to manage fluctuating market prices of certain purchased commodities and raw materials that are integrated into the Company’s end products.

The Company’s foreign currency management objective is to mitigate the potential impact of currency fluctuations on the value of its U.S. dollar cash flows and to reduce the variability of certain cash flows at the subsidiary level. The Company actively manages certain forecasted foreign currency exposures and uses a centralized currency management operation to take advantage of potential opportunities to naturally offset foreign currency exposures against each other. The decision of whether and when to execute derivative instruments, along with the duration of the instrument, can vary from period to period depending on market conditions, the relative costs of the instruments and capacity to hedge. The duration is linked to the timing of the underlying exposure, with the connection between the two being regularly monitored. Polaris does not use any financial contracts for trading purposes.

At June 30, 2018, Polaris had the following open foreign currency contracts (in thousands):



Foreign Currency	Notional Amounts (in U.S. Dollars)		Net Unrealized Gain
Australian Dollar	$	17,658	$	985
Canadian Dollar	132,052		5,336
Mexican Peso	20,760		(390		)
Total	$	170,470	$	5,931

These contracts, with maturities through September 2019, met the criteria for cash flow hedges, and the unrealized gains or losses, after tax, are recorded as a component of accumulated other comprehensive loss in shareholders’ equity.

The table below summarizes the carrying values of derivative instruments as of June 30, 2018 and December 31, 2017 (in thousands):



	Carrying Values of Derivative Instruments as of June 30, 2018
	Fair Value— Assets		Fair Value— (Liabilities)			Derivative Net Carrying Value
Derivatives designated as hedging instruments
Foreign exchange contracts(1)	$	6,422	$	(491	)	$	5,931
Total derivatives designated as hedging instruments	$	6,422	$	(491	)	$	5,931
Total derivatives	$	6,422	$	(491	)	$	5,931



	Carrying Values of Derivative Instruments as of December 31, 2017
	Fair Value— Assets		Fair Value— (Liabilities)			Derivative Net Carrying Value
Derivatives designated as hedging instruments
Foreign exchange contracts(1)	$	621	$	(1,047	)	$	(426	)
Total derivatives designated as hedging instruments	$	621	$	(1,047	)	$	(426	)
Total derivatives	$	621	$	(1,047	)	$	(426	)


(1)	Assets are included in prepaid expenses and other and liabilities are included in other accrued expenses on the accompanying consolidated balance sheets.

For derivative instruments that are designated and qualify as cash flow hedges, the effective portion of the gain or loss on the derivative is reported as a component of accumulated other comprehensive loss and reclassified into the statements of income in the same period or periods during which the hedged transaction affects the statements of income. Gains and losses on the derivative representing either hedge ineffectiveness or hedge components excluded from the assessment of effectiveness are recognized in the current statement of income.

The amount of gains (losses), net of tax, related to the effective portion of derivative instruments designated as cash flow hedges included in accumulated other comprehensive income (loss) for the three and six months ended June 30, 2018 were $580,000 and $5,109,000, respectively, compared to $(1,397,000) and $(1,041,000) for the same respective periods in 2017.

See Note 6 for information about the amount of gains and losses, net of tax, reclassified from accumulated other comprehensive loss into the statements of income for derivative instruments designated as hedging instruments. The ineffective portion of foreign currency contracts was not material for the three and six month period ended June 30, 2018.