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Basis of Presentation

9 Months Ended

Sep. 30, 2020

Organization Consolidation And Presentation Of Financial Statements [Abstract]

1.	Basis of Presentation

Readers of this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q (Quarterly Report) should refer to the audited financial statements and notes to consolidated financial statements of CBRE Group, Inc., a Delaware corporation (which may be referred to in these financial statements as “the company,” “we,” “us” and “our”), for the year ended December 31, 2019, which are included in our 2019 Annual Report on Form 10-K (2019 Annual Report), filed with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and also available on our website (www.cbre.com), since we have omitted from this Quarterly Report certain footnote disclosures which would substantially duplicate those contained in such audited financial statements. You should also refer to Note 2, Significant Accounting Policies, in the notes to consolidated financial statements in our 2019 Annual Report for further discussion of our significant accounting policies and estimates.

Considerations Related to the COVID‑19 Pandemic

The outbreak of the novel coronavirus (COVID‑19) global pandemic in the first quarter of 2020 has created a tremendous amount of uncertainty, precipitated a global economic contraction and severely disrupted both business activity and global real estate markets.

From 2010 to early 2020, commercial real estate markets had generally been characterized by increased demand for space, falling vacancies, higher rents and strong capital flows, leading to solid property sales and leasing activity. This healthy backdrop changed abruptly in the first quarter of 2020 with the emergence of the COVID‑19 pandemic and resultant sharp contraction of economic activity across much of the world. There has been a significant impact on commercial real estate markets, as many property owners and occupiers have put transactions on hold and withdrawn existing mandates, sharply reducing sales and leasing volumes. We expect to see this trend continue, as concerns about a COVID-19 resurgence are high across our major markets. The recovery of real estate markets around the world remained uncertain as of October 2020.

We expect the effects of COVID‑19 will adversely impact our financial position, results of operations, and cash flows for fiscal year 2020. The unaudited consolidated financial statements presented herein reflect our current estimates and assumptions that affect the reported amounts of assets and liabilities and related disclosures as of the date of the financial statements and reported amounts of sales and expenses during the reporting periods presented.

See Note 6 (Fair Value Measurements) and Note 10 (Commitments and Contingencies) for further discussion of COVID‑19 considerations.

Financial Statement Preparation

The accompanying consolidated financial statements have been prepared in accordance with the rules applicable to quarterly reports on Form 10-Q and include all information and footnotes required for interim financial statement presentation, but do not include all disclosures required under accounting principles generally accepted in the United States (U.S.), or GAAP, for annual financial statements. In our opinion, all adjustments (consisting of normal recurring adjustments, except as otherwise noted) considered necessary for a fair presentation have been included. The preparation of financial statements in conformity with GAAP requires us to make estimates and assumptions about future events, including the impact COVID‑19 may have on our business. These estimates and the underlying assumptions affect the amounts of assets and liabilities reported and reported amounts of revenue and expenses. Such estimates include the value of goodwill, intangibles and other long-lived assets, real estate assets, accounts receivable, contract assets, operating lease assets, investments in unconsolidated subsidiaries and assumptions used in the calculation of income taxes, retirement and other post-employment benefits, among others. These estimates and assumptions are based on our best judgment. We evaluate our estimates and assumptions on an ongoing basis using historical experience and other factors, including consideration of the current economic environment, and adjust such estimates and assumptions when facts and circumstances dictate. As future events and their effects cannot be determined with precision, actual results could differ significantly from these estimates. Changes in these estimates resulting from continuing changes in the economic environment will be reflected in the financial statements in future periods.

Certain reclassifications have been made to the 2019 financial statements to conform with the 2020 presentation.