2. New Accounting Standards and Reclassifications

Adoption of New Accounting Standards

Revenue Recognition — In May 2014, the Financial Accounting Standards Board (“FASB”) issued Accounting Standards Update (“ASU”) 2014-09 associated with revenue recognition. On January 1, 2018, we adopted ASU 2014-09 using the modified retrospective approach for all ongoing customer contracts. Our results of operations for the reported periods after January 1, 2018 are presented under this amended guidance, while prior period amounts are not adjusted and continue to be reported in accordance with historical accounting guidance.

The impact of adopting the amended guidance primarily relates to (i) the deferral of certain sales incentives, which previously were expensed as incurred, but under the new guidance are capitalized as other assets and amortized to selling, general and administrative expenses over the expected life of the customer relationship and (ii) the recognition of certain consideration payable to our customers as a reduction in operating revenues, which under historical guidance was recorded as operating expenses. We recognized a net $80 million increase to our retained earnings as of January 1, 2018 for the cumulative impact of adopting the amended guidance associated with the capitalization of sales incentives as contract acquisition costs consisting of a $108 million asset and a related $28 million deferred tax liability. There were no material impacts on our consolidated financial statements, which include these changes, as a result of our adoption of this amended guidance.

For contracts with an effective term greater than one year, we applied the standard’s practical expedient that permits the exclusion of unsatisfied performance obligations as our right to consideration corresponds directly to the value provided to the customer for services completed to date and all future variable consideration is allocated to wholly unsatisfied performance obligations. We also applied the standard’s optional exemption for performance obligations related to contracts that have an original expected duration of one year or less. See Note 3 for additional information and disclosures related to this amended guidance.

Financial Instruments — In January 2016, the FASB issued ASU 2016‑01 associated with the recognition and measurement of financial assets and liabilities with further clarifications made in February 2018 with the issuance of ASU 2018-03. The amended guidance requires certain equity investments that are not consolidated and not accounted for under the equity method to be measured at fair value with changes in fair value recognized in net income rather than as a component of accumulated other comprehensive income (loss). It further states that an entity may choose to measure equity investments that do not have readily determinable fair values using a quantitative approach, or measurement alternative, which is equal to its cost minus impairment, if any, plus or minus changes resulting from observable price changes in orderly transactions for the identical or a similar investment of the same issuer. The Company adopted this amended guidance on January 1, 2018 using a prospective transition approach, which did not have an impact on our consolidated financial statements.

We concluded that all equity investments within the scope of ASU 2016-01, which primarily relate to equity securities previously accounted for under the cost method, do not have readily determinable fair values. Accordingly, the value of these investments beginning January 1, 2018 has been measured using a quantitative approach, or the measurement alternative, as noted above. See Note 3 for additional information and disclosures related to this amended guidance.

Statement of Cash Flows — In August 2016, the FASB issued ASU 2016‑15 associated with the classification of certain cash receipts and cash payments in the statement of cash flows. In November 2016, the FASB issued ASU 2016‑18 associated with the presentation of restricted cash and cash equivalents in the statement of cash flows. The objective of the amended guidance was to reduce existing diversity in practice. This amended guidance was retrospectively adopted on January 1, 2018 and required the following disclosures and changes to the presentation of our financial statements:

Cash, cash equivalents and restricted cash and cash equivalents reported on the Consolidated Statements of Cash Flows now includes restricted cash and cash equivalents of $65 million, $62 million and $271 million as of December 31, 2015, 2016 and 2017, respectively, in restricted trust and escrow accounts and other current assets in our Consolidated Balance Sheets as well as previously reported cash and cash equivalents.

Cash payments made within 120 days of the acquisition date of a business combination to settle a contingent consideration liability are classified as cash outflows from investing activities. Thereafter, cash payments up to the amount of the contingent consideration liability recognized at the acquisition date (including measurement period adjustments) are classified as cash outflows from financing activities and any excess is classified as cash outflows from operating activities. The adoption of this amended guidance did not have a material impact on our Consolidated Statements of Cash Flows.

Our restricted cash and cash equivalents generally consist of funds deposited into specific accounts for purposes of funding insurance claims and demonstrating our ability to meet our landfill final capping, closure, post-closure and environmental remediation obligations.

Reclassification of Certain Tax Effects from Accumulated Other Comprehensive Income — In February 2018, the FASB issued ASU 2018-02 associated with the reclassification of certain tax effects from accumulated other comprehensive income (loss). This amended guidance allows a reclassification from accumulated other comprehensive income (loss) to retained earnings for stranded tax effects resulting from the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (the “Act”) which was signed into law on December 22, 2017. We early adopted this amended guidance on January 1, 2018, and as a result, elected to reclassify $5 million of stranded tax effects from accumulated other comprehensive income (loss) to retained earnings using a specific identification approach. See Note 12 for additional disclosures related to this amended guidance.

Income Taxes — In March 2018, the FASB issued ASU 2018-05 associated with the accounting and disclosures around the enactment of the Act and the Securities and Exchange Commission’s Staff Accounting Bulletin No. 118, Income Tax Accounting Implications of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (“SAB 118”), which the Company has adopted. See Note 8 for the disclosures related to this amended guidance.

New Accounting Standards Pending Adoption

Financial Instrument Credit Losses — In June 2016, the FASB issued ASU 2016‑13 associated with the measurement of credit losses on financial instruments. The amended guidance replaces the current incurred loss impairment methodology of recognizing credit losses when a loss is probable, with a methodology that reflects expected credit losses and requires consideration of a broader range of reasonable and supportable information to assess credit loss estimates. The amended guidance is effective for the Company on January 1, 2020. We are assessing the provisions of this amended guidance and evaluating the impact on our consolidated financial statements.

Leases — In February 2016, the FASB issued ASU 2016‑02 associated with lease accounting. There have been further amendments, including practical expedients, with the issuance of ASU 2018-01 in January 2018, ASU 2018-11 in July 2018 and ASU 2018-20 in December 2018. The amended guidance requires the recognition of lease assets and lease liabilities on the balance sheet for those leases with terms in excess of 12 months and currently classified as operating leases. Disclosure of key information about leasing arrangements will also be required. We elected the optional transition method which allows entities to continue to apply historical accounting guidance in the comparative periods presented in the year of adoption.

At transition, lessees and lessors may elect to apply a package of practical expedients permitting entities not to reassess: (i) whether any expired or existing contracts are or contain leases; (ii) lease classification for any expired or existing leases and (iii) whether initial direct costs for any expired or existing leases qualify for capitalization under the amended guidance. These practical expedients must be elected as a package and consistently applied. We have elected to apply the package of practical expedients upon adoption.

We identified our leases or other contracts impacted by the new standard and are currently in the process of (i) finalizing our implementation of a software solution to manage and account for leases under the new standard and (ii) updating our business processes and related policies, systems and controls to support recognition and disclosure under the new standard.

Upon adoption of the amended guidance, we expect to recognize right-of-use assets and related liabilities of approximately $300 million to $350 million for our contracts which contain an operating lease. We currently do not expect the amended guidance to have any other material impacts on our consolidated financial statements.

Reclassifications

When necessary, reclassifications have been made to our prior period financial information to conform to the current year presentation and are not material to our consolidated financial statements.