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SUMMARY OF SIGNIFICANT ACCOUNTING POLICIES | 12 Months Ended
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Dec. 31, 2020
Accounting Policies [Abstract] |
Summary of Significant Accounting Policies | ACCOUNTING PRINCIPLES The financial statements and accompanying notes are prepared in accordance with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America. The following is a description of Honeywell’s significant accounting policies. PRINCIPLES OF CONSOLIDATION The Consolidated Financial Statements include the accounts of Honeywell International Inc. and all of its subsidiaries and entities in which a controlling interest is maintained. Our consolidation policy requires equity investments that we exercise significant influence over but do not control the investee and are not the primary beneficiary of the investee’s activities to be accounted for using the equity method. Investments through which we are not able to exercise significant influence over the investee and which we do not have readily determinable fair values are accounted for under the cost method. All intercompany transactions and balances are eliminated in consolidation. RECLASSIFICATIONS Certain prior year amounts have been reclassified to conform to the current year presentation. RECENT ACCOUNTING PRONOUNCEMENTS The Company considers the applicability and impact of all Accounting Standards Updates (ASUs) issued by the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB). ASUs not listed below were assessed and determined to be either not applicable or are expected to have minimal impact on our consolidated statement of operations, balance sheet and cash flows (Consolidated Financial Statements). In December 2019, the FASB issued an ASU to simplify the accounting for income taxes. The standard’s amendments include changes in various subtopics of accounting for income taxes including, but not limited to, accounting for “hybrid” tax regimes, tax basis step-up in goodwill obtained in a transaction that is not a business combination, intraperiod tax allocation exception to incremental approach, ownership changes in investments, interim-period accounting for enacted changes in tax law, and year-to-date loss limitation in interim-period tax accounting. Effective January 1, 2021, the Company adopted this standard. The adoption of this standard does not have a material impact on the Company's Consolidated Financial Statements. In March 2020, the FASB issued guidance that provides optional expedients and exceptions for applying generally accepted accounted principles to contracts, hedging relationships, and other transactions affected by the transition away from reference rates expected to be discontinued to alternative reference rates. The guidance was effective upon issuance and may be applied prospectively to contract modifications made and hedging relationships entered into on or before December 31, 2022. The Company is currently evaluating the impacts of this guidance on the Company’s Consolidated Financial Statements. The Company does not expect the adoption of this standard to have a material impact on the Company’s Consolidated Financial Statements. RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT Research and development costs for projects are expensed as incurred, unless these costs relate to contracts with customers where we receive reimbursements. Amounts expensed as incurred for Company-sponsored research and development projects are included in Cost of products and services sold and were $1,334 million, $1,556 million and $1,809 million for the years ended December 31, 2020, 2019 and 2018. Costs related to contracts with customers for customer-sponsored research and development projects are included as a contract cost and included in Cost of products and services sold when revenue from such contracts is recognized, consistent with our sales recognition policies. This revenue was $1,200 million, $1,079 million and $1,069 million for the years ended December 31, 2020, 2019 and 2018. CASH AND CASH EQUIVALENTS Cash and cash equivalents include cash on hand and highly liquid investments having an original maturity of three months or less. PROPERTY, PLANT AND EQUIPMENT Property, plant and equipment are recorded at cost, including any asset retirement obligations, less accumulated depreciation. For financial reporting, the straight-line method of depreciation is used over the estimated useful lives of 10 to 50 years for buildings and improvements and 2 to 16 years for machinery and equipment. Recognition of the fair value of obligations associated with the retirement of tangible long-lived assets is required when there is a legal obligation to incur such costs. Upon initial recognition of a liability, the cost is capitalized as part of the related long-lived asset and depreciated over the corresponding asset’s useful life. GOODWILL AND INDEFINITE-LIVED INTANGIBLE ASSETS Goodwill and indefinite-lived intangible assets are subject to impairment testing annually as of March 31, and whenever events or changes in circumstances indicate that the carrying amount may not be fully recoverable. This testing compares carrying values to fair values and, when appropriate, the carrying value of these assets is reduced to fair value. We completed our annual goodwill impairment test as of March 31, 2020 and determined that there was no impairment as of that date. In addition, due to the economic impact of COVID-19, we updated our assessment as of June 30, 2020, and determined there was no impairment. We are not aware of any additional triggering events. FINITE-LIVED INTANGIBLE ASSETS Other intangible assets with determinable lives consist of customer lists, technology, patents and trademarks and other intangibles and are amortized over their estimated useful lives, ranging from 2 to 24 years. FOREIGN CURRENCY TRANSLATION Assets and liabilities of subsidiaries operating outside the United States with a functional currency other than U.S. Dollars are translated into U.S. Dollars using year-end exchange rates. Sales, costs and expenses are translated at the average exchange rates in effect during the year. Foreign currency translation gains and losses are included as a component of Accumulated other comprehensive income (loss). For subsidiaries operating in highly inflationary environments, inventories and property, plant and equipment, including related expenses, are remeasured at the exchange rate in effect on the date the assets were acquired, while monetary assets and liabilities are remeasured at year-end exchange rates. Remeasurement adjustments for these subsidiaries are included in earnings. DERIVATIVE FINANCIAL INSTRUMENTS All derivative financial instruments are recorded on the balance sheet as assets or liabilities and measured at fair value. For derivatives designated as hedges of the fair value of assets or liabilities, the changes in fair values of both the derivatives and the hedged items are recorded in current earnings. For derivatives designated as cash flow hedges, the changes in fair value of the derivatives are recorded in Accumulated other comprehensive income (loss) and subsequently recognized in earnings when the hedged items impact earnings. Derivative financial instruments designated as hedges must be designated and effective as a hedge of the identified risk exposure at the inception of the contract. Changes in fair value of the derivative contract must be highly correlated with changes in fair value of the underlying hedged item at inception and over the life of the hedge contract. Cash flows of such derivative financial instruments are classified consistent with the underlying hedged item. We elected to exclude the time value of the derivatives (i.e., the forward points) from the assessment of hedge effectiveness and recognize the initial value of the excluded component in earnings using the amortization approach. For derivative instruments that are designated and qualify as a net investment hedge, the gain or loss is reported as a component of Other comprehensive income (loss) and recorded in Accumulated other comprehensive income (loss). The gain or loss will be subsequently reclassified into net earnings when the hedged net investment is either sold or substantially liquidated. LEASES At the inception of a contract, the Company assesses whether the contract is, or contains, a lease. The assessment is based on (1) whether the contract involves the use of a distinct identified asset, (2) whether the Company obtains the right to substantially all the economic benefit from the use of the asset throughout the period, and (3) whether the Company has the right to direct the use of the asset. All significant lease arrangements are generally recognized at lease commencement. Operating lease right-of-use (ROU) assets and lease liabilities are recognized at commencement. An ROU asset and corresponding lease liability are not recorded for leases with an initial term of 12 months or less (short-term leases), and we recognize lease expense for these leases as incurred over the lease term. ROU assets represent our right to use an underlying asset during the reasonably certain lease term, and lease liabilities represent our obligation to make lease payments arising from the lease. Our lease terms may include options to extend or terminate the lease when it is reasonably certain that we will exercise that option. Operating lease ROU assets and liabilities are recognized at commencement date based on the present value of lease payments over the lease term. Lease payments may be fixed or variable, however, only fixed payments or in-substance fixed payments are included in determining the lease liability. Variable lease payments are recognized in operating expenses in the period in which the obligation for those payments are incurred. The operating lease ROU asset also includes any lease payments related to initial direct cost and prepayments and excludes lease incentives. Lease expense is recognized on a straight-line basis over the lease term. We have lease agreements with lease and non-lease components, which are generally accounted for separately. The Company primarily uses our incremental borrowing rate, which is based on the information available at the lease commencement date, in determining the present value of the lease payments. In determining the borrowing rate, we consider the lease term, secured incremental borrowing rate, and for leases denominated in a currency different than U.S. dollar, the collateralized borrowing rate in the foreign currency using the U.S. dollar and foreign currency swap spread, when availab le. PENSION BENEFITS The Company presents net periodic pensions costs by disaggregating the service cost component of such costs and reports those costs in the same line item or items in the Consolidated Statement of Operations as other compensation costs arising from services rendered by the pertinent employees during the period. The other non-service components of such costs are required to be presented separately from the service cost component. The Company records the service cost component of Pension ongoing (income) expense in Costs of products and services sold and Selling, general and administrative expenses. The remaining components of costs within Pension ongoing (income) expense, primarily interest costs and assumed return on plan assets, are recorded in Other (income) expense. We recognize net actuarial gains or losses in excess of 10% of the greater of the fair value of plan assets or the plan's projected benefit obligation (the corridor) annually in the fourth quarter each year (MTM Adjustment). The MTM Adjustment is also reported in Other (income) expense. SALES RECOGNITION Product and service sales are recognized when or as the Company transfers control of the promised products or services to its customers. Revenue is measured as the amount of consideration we expect to receive in exchange for transferring goods or providing services. Service sales, principally representing repair, maintenance and engineering activities, are recognized over the contractual period or as services are rendered. Sales under long-term contracts with performance obligations satisfied over time are recognized using either an input or output method. We recognize revenue over time as we perform on these contracts because of the continuous transfer of control to the customer. With control transferring over time, revenue is recognized based on the extent of progress towards completion of the performance obligation. We generally use the cost-to-cost input method of progress for our contracts because it best depicts the transfer of control to the customer that occurs as we incur costs. Under the cost-to-cost method, the extent of progress towards completion is measured based on the proportion of costs incurred to date to the total estimated costs at completion of the performance obligation. We review our cost estimates on significant contracts on a periodic basis, or when circumstances change and warrant a modification to a previous estimate. Cost estimates are largely based on negotiated or estimated purchase contract terms, historical performance trends and other economic projections. Significant factors that influence these estimates include inflationary trends, technical and schedule risk, internal and subcontractor performance trends, business volume assumptions, asset utilization, and anticipated labor agreements. Provisions for anticipated losses on long-term contracts are recorded in full when such losses become evident, to the extent required. The customer funding for costs incurred for nonrecurring engineering and development activities of our products under agreements with commercial customers is deferred and subsequently recognized as revenue as products are delivered to the customers. Additionally, expenses incurred, up to the customer agreed funded amount, are deferred as an asset and recognized as cost of sales when products are delivered to the customer. The deferred customer funding and costs result in recognition of deferred costs (asset) and deferred revenue (liability) on our Consolidated Balance Sheet. Capitalized contract fulfillment costs were approximately $1.3 billion and $1 billion as of December 31, 2020 and 2019. The amounts recognized as Cost of products and services sold were approximately $0.1 billion for the years ended December 31, 2020, 2019 and 2018. Revenues for our mechanical service programs are recognized as performance obligations that are satisfied over time, with recognition reflecting a series of distinct services using the output method. The terms of a contract or the historical business practice can give rise to variable consideration due to, but not limited to, cash-based incentives, rebates, performance awards, or credits. We estimate variable consideration at the most likely amount we will receive from customers. We include estimated amounts in the transaction price to the extent it is probable that a significant reversal of cumulative revenue recognized for such transaction will not occur, or when the uncertainty associated with the variable consideration is resolved. Our estimates of variable consideration and determination of whether to include estimated amounts in the transaction price are based largely on an assessment of our anticipated performance and all information (historical, current and forecasted) that is reasonably available to us. STOCK-BASED COMPENSATION PLANS The principal awards issued under our stock-based compensation plans, which are described in Note 16 Stock-Based Compensation Plans, are non-qualified stock options and restricted stock units. The cost for such awards is measured at the grant date based on the fair value of the award. The value of the portion of the award that is ultimately expected to vest is recognized as expense over the requisite service periods (generally the vesting period of the equity award) and is included in Selling, general and administrative expenses. Forfeitures are estimated at the time of grant to recognize expense for those awards that are expected to vest and are based on our historical forfeiture rates. INCOME TAXES Significant judgment is required in evaluating tax positions. We establish reserves for income taxes when, despite the belief that tax positions are fully supportable, there remain certain positions that do not meet the minimum recognition threshold. The approach for evaluating certain and uncertain tax positions is defined by the authoritative guidance which determines when a tax position is more likely than not to be sustained upon examination by the applicable taxing authority. In the normal course of business, the Company and its subsidiaries are examined by various federal, state and foreign tax authorities. We regularly assess the potential outcomes of these examinations and any future examinations for the current or prior years in determining the adequacy of our provision for income taxes. We continually assess the likelihood and amount of potential adjustments and adjust the income tax provision, the current tax liability and deferred taxes in the period in which the facts that give rise to a change in estimate become known. During 2020, the Company revised the disclosure of deferred tax assets and deferred tax liabilities in Note 5 Income Taxes as of December 31, 2019, to present separately the deferred tax liability for Right-of-use assets of $159 million and the deferred tax asset for Lease liabilities of $167 million, which were previously reported net within the deferred tax liability for Property, plant and equipment. This had no other impact to our Consolidated Financial Statements. For additional information, see Note 5 Income Taxes. EARNINGS PER SHARE Basic earnings per share is based on the weighted average number of common shares outstanding. Diluted earnings per share is based on the weighted average number of common shares outstanding and all dilutive potential common shares outstanding. ENVIRONMENTAL The Company accrues costs related to environmental matters when it is probable that it has incurred a liability related to a contaminated site and the amount can be reasonably estimated. For additional information, see Note 20 Commitments and Contingencies. ASBESTOS RELATED LIABILITIES AND INSURANCE RECOVERIES The Company recognizes a liability for any asbestos related contingency that is probable of occurrence and reasonably estimable. In connection with the recognition of liabilities for asbestos related matters, we record asbestos related insurance recoveries that are deemed probable. For additional information, see Note 20 Commitments and Contingencies. REIMBURSEMENT RECEIVABLES In conjunction with the Garrett and Resideo spin-offs, the Company entered into reimbursement agreements under which Honeywell receives cash payments as reimbursement primarily for asbestos related liability payments related to the Bendix business in the U.S. (Garrett) and for net spending for environmental matters at certain sites as defined in the agreement (Resideo). Accordingly, the Company recorded receivables based on estimates of the underlying reimbursable Honeywell asbestos and environmental spend, and we monitor the recoverability of such receivables, which are subject to the terms of applicable credit agreements and general ability to pay. For Garrett, the Company established an allowance based on the developments associated with Garrett's Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing. See Note 20 Commitments and Contingencies for a discussion of the recognition and measurement of our reimbursement receivables, including the allowance established for Garrett.

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