Sale of Receivables

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2017

Sale of Receivables [Abstract]

Sale of Receivables

4. Sale of Receivables

From time to time, we sell undivided interests in certain of our receivables to financial institutions.  We enter these agreements at our discretion when we determine that the cost of factoring is less than the cost of servicing our receivables with existing debt.  Under the terms of the agreements, we retain no rights or interest, have no obligations with respect to the sold receivables, and do not service the receivables after the sale.  As such, these transactions are being accounted for as a sale.

Pursuant to these agreements, we sold $780.5 million and $759.2 million of receivables for the years ended December 31, 2017 and 2016, respectively.  A charge in the amount of $22.6 million, $19.3 million and $14.3 million related to the sale of receivables is included in selling, general and administrative expenses in our consolidated statements of operations for the years ended December 31, 2017, 2016 and 2015, respectively.  If we do not enter into these arrangements or if any of the financial institutions with which we enter into these arrangements were to experience financial difficulties or otherwise terminate these arrangements, our financial condition, results of operations and cash flows could be materially and adversely affected by delays or failures to collect future trade accounts receivable.