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Interim Information
9 Months Ended
Sep. 30, 2016
Organization, Consolidation and Presentation of Financial Statements [Abstract]  
Interim Information
1.
INTERIM INFORMATION
Readers of this quarterly report should refer to the audited financial statements of Jones Lang LaSalle Incorporated ("JLL," which may also be referred to as "the Company" or as "we," "us" or "our") for the year ended December 31, 2015, which are included in our 2015 Annual Report on Form 10-K, filed with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC") and also available on our website (www.jll.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 the "Summary of Critical Accounting Policies and Estimates" section within Item 7 and to Note 2, Summary of Significant Accounting Policies, in the Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements in our 2015 Annual Report on Form 10-K for further discussion of our significant accounting policies and estimates.
Our Condensed Consolidated Financial Statements as of September 30, 2016 and December 31, 2015, and for the three and nine months ended September 30, 2016 and 2015, are unaudited. In the opinion of management, we have included all adjustments (consisting solely of normal recurring adjustments) necessary for a fair presentation of the Condensed Consolidated Financial Statements for these interim periods. We have reclassified certain prior year amounts to conform to the current year presentation, including condensing the comparative information in the Condensed Consolidated Statements of Cash Flows.
Historically, our quarterly revenue and profits have tended to increase from quarter to quarter as the year progresses. This is the result of a general focus in the real estate industry on completing transactions by calendar year-end, while we recognize certain expenses evenly throughout the year. Our LaSalle Investment Management ("LaSalle") segment generally earns investment-generated performance fees on clients' real estate investment returns and co-investment equity gains when assets are sold, the timing of which is geared toward the benefit of our clients. Within our Real Estate Services ("RES") segments, revenue from capital markets activities is driven by the size and timing of our clients' transactions and can fluctuate significantly from period to period.
A significant portion of our compensation and benefits expense is from incentive compensation plans, which we generally accrue throughout the year based on progress toward annual performance targets. This process can result in significant fluctuations in quarterly compensation and benefits expense from period to period. Non-variable operating expenses, which we recognize when incurred during the year, are relatively constant on a quarterly basis.
We provide for the effects of income taxes on interim financial statements based on our estimate of the effective tax rate for the full year, which is based on forecasted income by country and expected enacted tax rates. Changes in the geographic mix of income can impact our estimated effective tax rate.
As a result of the items mentioned above, the results for the periods ended September 30, 2016 and 2015 are not fully indicative of what our results will be for the full fiscal year.