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Summary of Significant Accounting Policies | 12 Months Ended
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Dec. 31, 2018
Accounting Policies [Abstract] |
Summary of Significant Accounting Policies | Summary of Significant Accounting Policies Principles of Consolidation The Consolidated Financial Statements include the accounts of Colgate-Palmolive Company and its majority-owned or controlled subsidiaries. Intercompany transactions and balances have been eliminated. The Company’s investments in consumer products companies with interests ranging between 20% and 50%, where the Company has significant influence over the investee, are accounted for using the equity method. Net income (loss) from such investments is recorded in Other (income) expense, net in the Consolidated Statements of Income. As of December 31, 2018 and 2017, equity method investments included in Other assets in the Consolidated Balance Sheets were $46 and $42, respectively. Unrelated third parties hold the remaining ownership interests in these investments. Investments with less than a 20% interest are accounted for using the cost method. Use of Estimates The preparation of financial statements in accordance with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America requires management to use judgment and make estimates that affect the reported amounts of assets and liabilities and disclosure of contingent gains and losses at the date of the financial statements and the reported amounts of revenues and expenses during the reporting period. The level of uncertainty in estimates and assumptions increases with the length of time until the underlying transactions are completed. As such, the most significant uncertainty in the Company’s assumptions and estimates involved in preparing the financial statements includes pension and other retiree benefit cost assumptions, stock-based compensation, asset impairments, uncertain tax positions, tax valuation allowances, legal and other contingency reserves and charges related to U.S. tax reform (see Note 11, Income Taxes). Additionally, the Company uses available market information and other valuation methodologies in assessing the fair value of financial instruments and retirement plan assets. Judgment is required in interpreting market data to develop the estimates of fair value and, accordingly, changes in assumptions or the estimation methodologies may affect the fair value estimates. Actual results could ultimately differ from those estimates. Revenue Recognition The Company’s revenue contracts represent a single performance obligation to sell its products to trade customers. Sales are recorded at the time control of the products is transferred to trade customers, in an amount that reflects the consideration the Company expects to be entitled to in exchange for the products. Control is the ability of trade customers to direct the “use of” and “obtain” the benefit from our products. In evaluating the timing of the transfer of control of products to trade customers, the Company considers several control indicators, including significant risks and rewards of products, the Company’s right to payment and the legal title of the products. Based on the assessment of control indicators, sales are generally recognized when products are delivered to trade customers. Net sales reflect the transaction prices for contracts, which include units shipped at selling list prices reduced by variable consideration. Variable consideration includes expected sales returns and the cost of current and continuing promotional programs. Current promotional programs primarily include product listing allowances and co-operative advertising arrangements. Continuing promotional programs are predominantly consumer coupons and volume-based sales incentive arrangements. The cost of promotional programs is estimated using the expected value method considering all reasonably available information, including the Company’s historical experience and its current expectations, and is reflected in the transaction price when sales are recorded. Adjustments to the cost of promotional programs in subsequent periods are generally not material, as the Company’s promotional programs are typically of short duration, thereby reducing the uncertainty inherent in such estimates. Sales returns are generally accepted at the Company’s discretion and are not material to the Company’s Consolidated Financial Statements. The Company’s contracts with trade customers do not have significant financing components or non-cash consideration and the Company does not have unbilled revenue or significant amounts of prepayments from customers. The Company records Net sales excluding taxes collected on its sales to its trade customers. Shipping and handling activities are accounted for as contract fulfillment costs and classified as Selling, general and administrative expenses. Shipping and Handling Costs Shipping and handling costs are classified as Selling, general and administrative expenses and were $1,255, $1,183 and $1,140 for the years ended December 31, 2018, 2017 and 2016, respectively. Marketing Costs The Company markets its products through advertising and other promotional activities. Advertising costs are included in Selling, general and administrative expenses and are expensed as incurred. Certain consumer and trade promotional programs, such as consumer coupons, are recorded as a reduction of sales. Cash and Cash Equivalents The Company considers all highly liquid investments with original maturities of three months or less at the time of purchase to be cash equivalents. Inventories The cost of approximately 75% of inventories is determined using the first-in, first-out (“FIFO”) method, which is stated at the lower of cost or net realizable value. The cost of all other inventories, in the U.S. and Mexico, is determined using the last-in, first-out (“LIFO”) method, which is stated at the lower of cost or market. Property, Plant and Equipment Land, buildings and machinery and equipment are stated at cost. Depreciation is provided, primarily using the straight-line method, over estimated useful lives ranging from 3 to 15 years for machinery and equipment and up to 40 years for buildings. Depreciation attributable to manufacturing operations is included in Cost of sales. The remaining component of depreciation is included in Selling, general and administrative expenses. Goodwill and Other Intangibles Goodwill and indefinite life intangible assets, such as the Company’s global brands, are subject to impairment tests at least annually. These tests were performed and did not result in an impairment charge. Other intangible assets with finite lives, such as local brands and trademarks, customer relationships and non-compete agreements, are amortized over their estimated useful lives, generally ranging from 5 to 40 years. Amortization expense related to intangible assets is included in Other (income) expense, net, which is included in Operating profit. Income Taxes The provision for income taxes is determined using the asset and liability method. Under this method, deferred tax assets and liabilities are recognized based upon the differences between the financial statement and tax bases of assets and liabilities using enacted tax rates that will be in effect at the time such differences are expected to reverse. Deferred tax assets are reduced by a valuation allowance when, in the opinion of management, it is more likely than not that some portion or all of the deferred tax assets will not be realized. The Company uses a comprehensive model to recognize, measure, present and disclose in its financial statements uncertain tax positions that the Company has taken or expects to take on an income tax return. The Company recognizes interest expense and penalties related to unrecognized tax benefits within Provision for income taxes. Financial Instruments Derivative instruments are recorded as assets and liabilities at estimated fair value based on available market information. The Company’s derivative instruments that qualify for hedge accounting are designated as either fair value hedges, cash flow hedges or net investment hedges. For fair value hedges, changes in the fair value of the derivative, as well as the offsetting changes in the fair value of the hedged item, are recognized in earnings each period. For cash flow hedges, changes in the fair value of the derivative are recorded in Other comprehensive income (loss) and are recognized in earnings when the offsetting effect of the hedged item is also recognized in earnings. For hedges of the net investment in foreign subsidiaries, changes in the fair value of the derivative are recorded in Other comprehensive income (loss) to offset the change in the value of the net investment being hedged. Cash flows related to hedges are classified in the same category as the cash flows from the hedged item in the Consolidated Statements of Cash Flows. The Company may also enter into certain foreign currency and interest rate instruments that economically hedge certain of its risks but do not qualify for hedge accounting. Changes in fair value of these derivative instruments, based on quoted market prices, are recognized in earnings each period. The Company’s derivative instruments and other financial instruments are more fully described in Note 7, Fair Value Measurements and Financial Instruments along with the related fair value measurement considerations. Stock-Based Compensation The Company recognizes the cost of employee services received in exchange for awards of equity instruments, such as stock options and restricted stock units, based on the fair value of those awards at the date of grant over the requisite service period. The Company uses the Black-Scholes-Merton (“Black-Scholes”) option pricing model to estimate the fair value of stock option awards. Stock-based compensation plans, related expenses and assumptions used in the Black-Scholes option pricing model are more fully described in Note 8, Capital Stock and Stock-Based Compensation Plans. Currency Translation The assets and liabilities of foreign subsidiaries, other than those operating in highly inflationary environments, are translated into U.S. dollars at year-end exchange rates with resulting translation gains and losses accumulated in a separate component of shareholders’ equity. Income and expense items are translated into U.S. dollars at average rates of exchange prevailing during the year. For subsidiaries operating in highly inflationary environments, local currency-denominated non-monetary assets, including inventories, goodwill and property, plant and equipment, are remeasured at their historical exchange rates, while local currency-denominated monetary assets and liabilities are remeasured at year-end exchange rates. Remeasurement adjustments for these operations are included in Net income attributable to Colgate-Palmolive Company. Recent Accounting Pronouncements In August 2018, the Financial Accounting Standards Board (“FASB”) issued Accounting Standards Update (“ASU”) No. 2018-15, “Intangibles–Goodwill and Other–Internal–Use Software (Topic 350): Customer’s Accounting for Implementation Costs Incurred in a Cloud Computing Arrangement That is a Service Contract.” This new guidance aligns the requirements for capitalizing implementation costs incurred in a hosting arrangement that is a service contract with the requirements for capitalizing implementation costs incurred to develop or obtain internal-use software. This new guidance is effective for the Company on a prospective or retrospective basis beginning on January 1, 2020, with early adoption permitted. The Company elected to adopt this guidance early, beginning on January 1, 2019 on a prospective basis and does not expect the guidance to have a material impact on the Company’s Consolidated Financial Statements. In August 2018, the FASB issued ASU No. 2018-14, “Compensation–Retirement Benefits–Defined Benefit Plans–General (Topic 715): Disclosure Framework–Changes to the Disclosure Requirements for Defined Benefit Plans.” This new guidance removes certain disclosures that are not considered cost beneficial, clarifies certain required disclosures and requires certain additional disclosures. This new guidance is effective for the Company on a retrospective basis beginning in the year ending December 31, 2020, with early adoption permitted. While the Company is currently assessing the impact of the new guidance, it is not expected to have a material impact on the Company’s Consolidated Financial Statements. In August 2018, the FASB issued ASU No. 2018-13, “Fair Value Measurement (Topic 820): Disclosure Framework - Changes to the Disclosure Requirements for Fair Value Measurement.” This new guidance removes certain disclosure requirements related to the fair value hierarchy, modifies existing disclosure requirements related to measurement uncertainty and adds new disclosure requirements. The new disclosure requirements include disclosing the changes in unrealized gains and losses for the period included in other comprehensive income for recurring Level 3 fair value measurements held at the end of the reporting period and the range and weighted average of significant unobservable inputs used to develop Level 3 fair value measurements. This new guidance is effective for the Company beginning on January 1, 2020, with early adoption permitted. Certain disclosure requirements in the new guidance will need to be applied on a retrospective basis and others on a prospective basis. While the Company is currently assessing the impact of the new guidance, it is not expected to have a material impact on the Company’s Consolidated Financial Statements. In February 2018, the FASB issued ASU No. 2018-02, “Income Statement–Reporting Comprehensive Income (Topic 220): Reclassification of Certain Tax Effects from Accumulated Other Comprehensive Income” (“ASU 2018-02”), which permits the reclassification of stranded tax effects resulting from the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (the “TCJA” or “U.S. tax reform”) from Accumulated other comprehensive income (loss) to Retained earnings. This new guidance is effective for the Company beginning on January 1, 2019, with early adoption permitted, and must be applied either in the period of adoption or retrospectively to periods in which the effects of the TCJA are recognized. The Company elected to adopt this new guidance early, beginning on January 1, 2018, and reclassified $163 during the first quarter of 2018. In August 2017, the FASB issued ASU No. 2017-12, “Derivatives and Hedging (Topic 815): Targeted Improvements to Accounting for Hedging Activities,” amending the eligibility criteria for hedged items and transactions to expand an entity’s ability to hedge nonfinancial and financial risk components. The new guidance eliminates the requirement to separately measure and present hedge ineffectiveness and aligns the presentation of hedge gains and losses with the underlying hedge item. The new guidance also simplifies the hedge documentation and hedge effectiveness assessment requirements. The new guidance is effective for the Company beginning on January 1, 2019, with early adoption permitted. The amended presentation and disclosure requirements must be adopted on a prospective basis, while any amendments to cash flow and net investment hedge relationships that exist on the date of adoption must be applied on a “modified retrospective” basis, meaning a cumulative effect adjustment to the opening balance of retained earnings as of the beginning of the year of adoption. The new guidance is not expected to have a material impact on the Company’s Consolidated Financial Statements. In October 2018, the FASB issued ASU No. 2018-16, “Derivatives and Hedging (Topic 815): Inclusion of the Secured Overnight Financing Rate (“SOFR”) Overnight Index Swap (“OIS”) Rate as Benchmark Interest Rate for Hedge Accounting Purposes.” The new guidance permits use of the OIS rate based on the SOFR as a U.S. benchmark interest rate for hedge accounting purposes under Topic 815. The new guidance is effective for the Company beginning on January 1, 2019, concurrently with the adoption of ASU 2017-12, with early adoption permitted. The new guidance is required to be applied on a prospective basis. While the Company is currently assessing the impact of the new guidance, it is not expected to have a material impact on the Company’s Consolidated Financial Statements. In May 2017, the FASB issued ASU No. 2017-09, “Compensation–Stock Compensation (Topic 718): Scope of Modification Accounting,” clarifying when a change to the terms or conditions of a stock-based payment award must be accounted for as a modification. The new guidance requires modification accounting if the fair value, vesting condition or the classification of the award is not the same immediately before and after a change to the terms and conditions of the award. The new guidance was effective for the Company on a prospective basis beginning on January 1, 2018 and did not impact the Company’s Consolidated Financial Statements, as it is not the Company’s practice to change either the terms or the conditions of stock-based payment awards once they are granted. In March 2017, the FASB issued ASU No. 2017-07, “Compensation–Retirement Benefits (Topic 715): Improving the Presentation of Net Periodic Pension Cost and Net Periodic Postretirement Benefit Cost,” changing the presentation of the net periodic benefit cost on the Statement of Income and limiting the amount of net periodic benefit cost eligible for capitalization to assets. The new guidance permits only the service cost component of net periodic benefit cost to be eligible for capitalization. The new guidance also requires entities to present the service cost component of net periodic benefit cost together with compensation costs arising from services rendered by employees during the period. The non-service related components of net periodic benefit cost, which include interest, expected return on assets, amortization of prior service costs and actuarial gains and losses, are required to be presented outside of Operating profit. The line item or items used to present the other components of net periodic benefit cost must be disclosed in the Notes to the Consolidated Financial Statements, if not separately described on the Statement of Income. The new presentation requirement was adopted on a “full retrospective” basis, meaning the standard is applied to all of the periods presented in the financial statements, while the limitation on capitalization was adopted on a prospective basis. Effective January 1, 2018, as required, the Company adopted this standard on a retrospective basis. As permitted by the new guidance, the Company used the amounts disclosed in its pension and other postretirement benefit plan note for the prior comparative periods as the basis for applying the retrospective presentation requirements. As a result, for all periods presented, only the service related component of pension and other postretirement benefit costs is included in Operating profit. For the years ended December 31, 2017 and 2016, the Company reclassified $118 and $118, respectively, of non-service related components of pension and other postretirement costs, which was previously deducted from Operating profit, to a new line item, “Non-service related postretirement costs,” which is below Operating profit. Adoption of this standard had no effect on Net income attributable to Colgate-Palmolive Company, Earnings per common share or Cash flow. In January 2017, the FASB issued ASU No. 2017-04, “Intangibles–Goodwill and Other (Topic 350): Simplifying the Test for Goodwill Impairment,” eliminating the requirement to calculate the implied fair value, essentially eliminating step two from the goodwill impairment test. The new standard requires goodwill impairment to be based upon the results of step one of the impairment test, which is defined as the excess of the carrying value of a reporting unit over its fair value. The impairment charge will be limited to the amount of goodwill allocated to that reporting unit. The standard is effective for the Company on a prospective basis beginning on January 1, 2020, with early adoption permitted. This new guidance is not expected to have an impact on the Company’s Consolidated Financial Statements. In January 2017, the FASB issued ASU No. 2017-01, “Business Combinations (Topic 805): Clarifying the Definition of a Business,” which provides additional guidance on evaluating whether transactions should be accounted for as acquisitions of assets or businesses. The guidance requires an entity to evaluate if substantially all of the fair value of the assets acquired is concentrated in a single identifiable asset or a group of similar identifiable assets. If this threshold is met, the new guidance would define this as an asset acquisition; otherwise, the entity then evaluates whether the asset meets the requirement that a business include, at a minimum, an input and substantive process that together significantly contribute to the ability to create outputs. The guidance was effective for the Company on a prospective basis beginning on January 1, 2018. This new guidance did not have an impact on the Company’s Consolidated Financial Statements. In August 2016, the FASB issued ASU No. 2016-15, “Statement of Cash Flows (Topic 230): Classification of Certain Cash Receipts and Cash Payments,” which clarifies how certain cash receipts and payments are to be presented in the statement of cash flows. The guidance was effective for the Company on January 1, 2018. This new guidance did not have an impact on the Company’s Consolidated Financial Statements. In February 2016, the FASB issued its final standard on lease accounting, ASU No. 2016-02, “Leases (Topic 842),” which superseded Topic 840, “Leases.” The new accounting standard was effective for the Company beginning on January 1, 2019 and required the recognition on the balance sheet of right-of-use assets and lease liabilities for all long-term leases, including operating leases, and enhanced disclosures about the Company’s leasing arrangements. Substantially all of the Company’s leases are considered operating leases and, as such, under accounting standards in effect at December 31, 2018, were not recognized on the Company’s Consolidated Balance Sheets as of December 31, 2018 and 2017. In July 2018, the FASB issued ASU No. 2018-10, “Codification Improvements to Topic 842, Leases” to clarify the implementation guidance and ASU No. 2018-11, “Leases (Topic 842) Targeted Improvements.” This updated guidance provided an optional transition method, which allows for the initial application of the new accounting standard at the adoption date and the recognition of a cumulative-effect adjustment to the opening balance of retained earnings as of the beginning of the period of adoption. The Company adopted the new standard beginning on January 1, 2019 and elected the optional transition method with no restatement of prior period amounts. As allowed under the new accounting standard, the Company elected to apply practical expedients to carry forward the original lease determinations, lease classifications and accounting of initial direct costs for all asset classes at the time of adoption. The Company also elected not to separate lease components from non-lease components and to exclude short-term leases from its Consolidated Balance Sheet. The Company’s adoption of the new standard is expected to result in the recognition of right-of-use assets of approximately $450 and liabilities of approximately $575, with no material cumulative effect adjustment to its Consolidated Balance Sheet as of the date of adoption. Adoption of the new standard will not have a material impact on the Company’s Consolidated Statements of Income or Cash Flows. In January 2016, the FASB issued ASU No. 2016-01, “Financial Instruments–Overall (Subtopic 825-10): Recognition and Measurement of Financial Assets and Financial Liabilities.” The updated guidance enhances the reporting model for financial instruments, which includes amendments to address aspects of recognition, measurement, presentation and disclosure. The amendment to the standard was effective for the Company beginning on January 1, 2018 and did not have an impact on the Company’s Consolidated Financial Statements. In May 2014, the FASB and the International Accounting Standards Board issued their final converged standard on revenue recognition. The standard, issued as ASU No. 2014-09, “Revenue from Contracts with Customers (Topic 606)” by the FASB, provides a comprehensive revenue recognition model for all contracts with customers and supersedes current revenue recognition guidance. The revenue standard contains principles that an entity will apply to determine the measurement of revenue and timing of when it is recognized. The underlying principle is that an entity will recognize revenue to depict the transfer of goods or services to its customers at an amount that the entity expects to be entitled to in exchange for those goods or services. The new standard also includes enhanced disclosures. During 2016, the FASB issued several accounting updates (ASU No. 2016-08, 2016-10 and 2016-12) to clarify implementation guidance and correct unintended application of the guidance. The standard allows for either full retrospective adoption or modified retrospective adoption. The Company adopted the new standard on January 1, 2018, on a “modified retrospective” basis, which did not have a material impact on the Company’s Consolidated Financial Statements. As required, the Company recognized the cumulative effect of initially applying the new revenue standard as an adjustment to the 2018 opening balance of retained earnings. Results for periods beginning on or after January 1, 2018 are presented under Topic 606, “Revenue from Contracts with Customers,” while prior period amounts are not adjusted and continue to be reported in accordance with the prior accounting guidance under Topic 605, “Revenue Recognition.” Reclassifications Certain prior year amounts have been reclassified to conform to the current year presentation.

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