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Summary of Significant Accounting Policies | 12 Months Ended
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Dec. 31, 2015
SUMMARY OF SIGNIFICANT ACCOUNTING POLICIES [Abstract] |
Significant Accounting Policies [Text Block] |
1. | SUMMARY OF SIGNIFICANT ACCOUNTING POLICIES
Nature of Operations Louisiana-Pacific Corporation and its subsidiaries (collectively LP or the Company) are principally engaged in the manufacture of building products. In addition to its U.S. operations, the Company also maintains manufacturing facilities in Canada, Chile and Brazil through foreign subsidiaries and a joint venture. The principal customers for the Company’s building products are retail home centers, manufactured housing producers, distributors and wholesalers in North America and South America, with limited sales to Asia, Australia and Europe. See Note 25 below for further information regarding LP’s products and segments. Use of Estimates in the Preparation of Financial Statements The preparation of financial statements in conformity with accounting principles generally accepted in the U.S. requires management to make estimates and assumptions that affect the reported amounts of assets and liabilities and disclosure of contingent assets and liabilities at the date of the financial statements and the reported amounts of revenues and expenses during the reporting period. Actual results could differ from those estimates. Consolidation The consolidated financial statements include the accounts of LP and its majority-owned subsidiaries after elimination of intercompany transactions. The equity method of accounting is used for joint ventures and investments in associated companies over which LP has significant influence but does not have control. Significant influence is deemed to exist generally when the Company has an ownership interest in the voting stock of an investee of between 20 percent and 50 percent. LP’s equity in the income and losses of these investments is recorded in “Equity in loss of unconsolidated affiliates” on the Consolidated Statements of Income. See Note 9 for further discussion of these investments and advances. LP consolidates a variable interest entity (VIE) when it has a controlling financial interest in the VIE and is thus determined to be the VIE's primary beneficiary. LP currently consolidates its interest in LP Pinewood which was established in 2003 in connection with the sale of LP's southern timberlands. LP has notes receivable of $410.0 million (see Note 7) and notes payable of $368.7 million (see Note 13) recorded in the balance sheet related to LP's interest in the VIE. For further information regarding the details of the relationship of the assets and liabilities and the recourse provisions of the consolidated VIE see Note 13. LP also has a variable interest in its Abitibi-LP equity method investee but is not considered to be the primary beneficiary. See Note 9 for further information on this investment. Cash and Cash Equivalents Cash and cash equivalents includes cash on hand and short term investments of 3 months or less when purchased. These investments are stated at cost, which approximates market value. Investments LP’s long-term investments are classified as available-for-sale and are reported at estimated fair value. LP may invest in securities including U.S. treasury notes, bank obligations, corporate obligations, auction rate securities and commercial paper. Under LP’s investment criteria at purchase, bank and corporate obligations carry a rating of at least A-1 and commercial paper must have the highest rating obtainable from one or more rating agencies. Unrealized gains and losses, net of tax, on these investments are reported as a separate component of “Accumulated comprehensive loss” in Stockholders’ Equity until realized. Impairment losses are charged to income for other-than-temporary declines in fair value. Realized gains and losses (including impairments) are recorded in “Investment income” in the Consolidated Statements of Income. For purposes of computing realized gains and losses, cost is identified on a specific identification basis. See Note 2 for further discussion. Fair Value of Financial Instruments LP has, where appropriate, estimated the fair value of financial instruments. These fair value amounts may be significantly affected by the assumptions used, including the discount rate and estimates of cash flows. Accordingly, the estimates presented are not necessarily indicative of the amounts that could be realized in a current market exchange. Inventory Inventories are valued at the lower of cost or market. Inventory costs include materials, labor and operating overhead. The LIFO (last-in, first-out) method is used for a minor portion of the Company’s log inventories with the remaining inventories valued at FIFO (first-in, first-out) or average cost. See Note 6 for further discussion. Assets Held for Sale Over the last several years, LP has adopted and implemented plans to sell selected assets in order to improve its operating results. LP is required to classify assets held for sale which are not part of a discontinued business separately on the face of the financial statements outside of “Property, plant and equipment”. During 2014, LP sold the assets of one of its non-operating locations for $11.9 million. As of December 31, 2015 and 2014, LP included two OSB mills and various non-operating sites in its held for sale category. See Note 3 for discussion of impairments recorded on these assets to reduce carrying value to estimated sales prices less estimated selling costs. The current book values of assets held for sale by category is as follows:
Dollar amounts in millions | December 31,
2015 |  | 2014
Property, plant and equipment, at cost: |  |  |
Land, land improvements and logging roads, net of road amortization | $ | 1.8 |  |  | $ | 1.3 |
Buildings | 0.5 |  |  | 0.3 |
Machinery and equipment | 6.7 |  |  | 7.7 |
Net property, plant and equipment | $ | 9.0 |  |  | $ | 9.3 |
LP believes that the net realizable sales value of the aforementioned assets exceeds their carrying values. Timber and Timberlands Timber and timberlands is comprised of timber deeds and allocations of purchase price to Canadian timber harvesting licenses. Timber deeds are transactions in which LP purchases timber, but not the underlying land. The cost of timber deeds are capitalized in timber and timberlands and charged to cost of timber harvested as the volume is removed. Timber that has been severed but has not yet been delivered to a facility is included in timber and timberlands. The values associated with timber licenses were allocated in the purchase price allocations for Le Groupe Forex (Forex), Peace Valley OSB and the assets of Evans Forest Products. These licenses have a life of twenty to twenty-five years. These licenses are amortized on a straight-line basis over the life of the facilities. Cost of timber harvested also includes the amortization of the timber licenses. See Note 8 for further discussion. Property, Plant and Equipment Property, plant and equipment, including capitalized interest, are recorded at cost. Depreciation for financial statement purposes is provided principally using the units of production method for machinery and equipment which amortizes the cost of equipment over the estimated units that will be produced during its useful life. Provisions for depreciation of buildings, land improvements and the remaining machinery and equipment have been computed using straight-line rates based on the estimated service lives. The effective straight-line lives for the principal classes of property range from three to twenty years. Logging road construction costs are capitalized and included in land and land improvements. These costs are amortized as the timber volume adjacent to the road system is harvested. LP capitalizes interest on borrowed funds during construction periods. Capitalized interest is charged to machinery and equipment accounts and amortized over the lives of the related assets. Capitalized interest totaled $1.9 million in 2015 and $1.3 million in 2014. Potential Impairments Long-lived assets to be held and used by LP (primarily property, plant and equipment and timber and timberlands) are reviewed for impairment when events or changes in circumstances indicate that the carrying amount of the assets may not be recoverable. When impairment is indicated, the book values of the assets are written down to their estimated fair value as calculated by the expected discounted cash flow or estimated net sales price. See Note 3 for impairment charges recorded in the periods presented. See Note 18 for a discussion of charges in 2015, 2014 and 2013 related to impairments of property, plant and equipment. Long-lived assets that are held for sale are written down to the estimated sales proceeds less cost to sell unless the estimated net proceeds exceed the carrying value. LP continues to review certain operations and investments for potential impairments. LP’s management currently believes it has adequate support for the carrying value of each of these operations and investments based upon the anticipated cash flows that result from estimates of future demand, pricing and production costs assuming certain levels of planned capital expenditures. As of December 31, 2015, the fair values of LP's facilities were substantially in excess of their carrying value, which supported the conclusion that no impairment is necessary for those facilities. However, if demand and pricing for the relevant products continues at levels significantly below cycle average demand and pricing, or should LP decide to invest capital in alternative projects, or should changes occur related to LP's wood supply for these locations, it is possible that impairment charges will be required. Income Taxes LP accounts for income taxes under an asset and liability approach that requires the recognition of deferred tax assets and liabilities for the expected future tax consequences of events that have been recognized in LP’s financial statements or tax returns. In estimating future tax consequences, LP generally considers all expected future events other than the enactment of changes in tax laws or rates and future income. The effect on deferred tax assets and liabilities of a change in tax rates will be recognized as income or expense in the period that includes the enactment date. Additionally, deferred tax assets are reduced by a valuation allowance when it is more likely than not that some portion of the deferred tax assets will not be realized. LP recognizes liabilities for uncertain tax positions through a two step process. The first step is to the evaluate the tax position for recognition by determining if the weight of the available evidence indicates that it is more likely than not that the position will be sustained on audit, including resolution of related appeals or litigation process, if any. The second step requires LP to estimate and measure the tax benefit as the largest amount that is more than 50% likely to be realized upon ultimate settlement. It is inherently difficult and subjective to estimate such amounts, as LP must determine the probability for various outcomes. LP evaluates these uncertain tax provisions when new information becomes available. These revaluations are based upon factors including, but not limited to, changes in circumstances, changes in tax law, successful settlement of issues under audit and new audit activity. Such a change in recognition or measurement could result in the recognition of a tax benefit or an increase to the related provision. LP classifies interest related to income taxes liabilities or uncertain tax positions as interest expense or interest income and, if applicable, penalties are recognized as a component of income tax expense. See Note 11 for further discussion of deferred income taxes. Stock-Based Compensation LP recognizes the cost of employee services received in exchange for awards of equity instruments, such as stock options, performance shares, restricted stock or restricted stock units and stock settled stock appreciation rights (SSAR), based upon the fair value of those awards at the date of grant over the requisite service period. LP generally uses the Black-Scholes-Merton (Black-Scholes) option pricing model to determine the fair value of the SSAR awards. Stock-based compensation plans, related expenses and assumptions used in the Black-Scholes option pricing model are more fully described in Note 15. The fair market value of performance share awards are determined based on the fair value as of the date of grant times the number of shares adjusted for the weighted probability of the attainment of the relevant performance goals. Foreign Currency Translation The functional currency for the Company’s Canadian subsidiaries is the U.S. dollar; however the books and records for these subsidiaries are maintained in the Canadian dollar. The financial statements of these foreign subsidiaries are remeasured into U.S. dollars using the historical exchange rate for property, plant and equipment, timber and timberlands, goodwill, and certain other non-monetary assets and related depreciation and amortization on these assets and liabilities. LP uses the exchange rate at the balance sheet date for the remaining assets and liabilities, including deferred taxes. A weighted-average exchange rate is used for each period for revenues and expenses. These transaction gains or losses are recorded in “Other non-operating income (expense)” on the Consolidated Statements of Income. The functional currencies of LP’s Chilean and Brazilian subsidiaries are the Chilean peso and Brazilian real and their books and records are maintained in the local currency. Translation adjustments, which are based upon the exchange rate at the balance sheet date for assets and liabilities and the weighted-average rate for the income statement, are recorded in “Accumulated comprehensive loss” in Stockholders’ equity. Goodwill and Intangible assets Goodwill is tested for impairment on an annual basis, and when indicators of impairment are determined to exist. Impairment is evaluated by applying a fair value based test. Impairment losses would be recognized whenever the implied fair value of goodwill is less than its carrying value. Intangible assets with finite useful lives are amortized generally on a straight-line basis over the periods benefited. Impairment of the intangible asset is evaluated when factors indicate impairment may exist. Restricted Cash LP's restricted cash accounts generally secure outstanding letters of credit. Revenue Recognition Revenue is recognized when title has passed. The following criteria are used to determine that title has passed: (1) persuasive evidence of an arrangement exists; (2) delivery has occurred or services have been rendered; (3) the price to the buyer is fixed or determinable; and (4) the collection is reasonably assured. During 2015, 2014 and 2013, LP's top ten customers accounted for approximately 45%, 41% and 44% of its sales. No customers exceeded 10% of LP's sales in 2015, 2014, or 2013. LP records estimated reductions to revenue for customer programs and incentive offerings, including pricing arrangements, promotions and other volume-based incentives, at the date revenue is recognized. Some of these incentives are negotiated up front with the customer and are redeemable only if the customer achieves a specified cumulative level of sales (measured in dollars or units) or sales increase. Under these incentive programs, at the time of sale, LP estimates the anticipated rebate to be paid based upon forecasted sales levels. These forecasts are updated on a regular basis. If the forecasted sales for a customer change significantly, the accrual for rebates is adjusted to reflect the revised estimate. Asset Retirement Obligations LP records the fair value of the legal obligations and the conditional obligations to retire and remove long-lived assets in the period which the obligation is incurred. These obligations primarily consist of monitoring costs on closed landfills, timber reforestation obligations associated with LP’s timber licenses in Canada and site restoration costs. When the related liability is initially recorded, LP capitalizes the cost by increasing the carrying amount of the related long-lived asset. Over time, the liability is accreted to its settlement value and the capitalized cost is depreciated over the useful life of the related asset. Upon settlement of the liability, LP recognizes a gain or loss for any difference between the settlement amount and the liability recorded. See Note 16 for further discussion. Other Operating Credits and Charges, Net LP classifies significant amounts that management considers unrelated to ongoing core operating activities as “Other operating credits and charges, net” in the Consolidated Statements of Income. Such items include, but are not limited to, amounts related to restructuring charges (including severance charges), charges to establish and maintain litigation or environmental reserves, product reserves, prior year inventory profit adjustments, retirement charges and gains or losses from settlements with governmental or other organizations. Due to the nature of these items, amounts in the income statement can fluctuate from year to year. The determination of which items are considered significant and unrelated to core operations is based upon management’s judgment. See Note 17 for a discussion of specific amounts in 2015, 2014 and 2013. Retirement Benefits LP is required to use actuarial methods and assumptions in the valuation of defined benefit obligations and the determination of expense. Difference between actual and expected results or changes in the values of the obligations and plan assets are not recognized in earnings as they occur but, rather, systematically and gradually over subsequent periods. See Note 14 for further information. Comprehensive Income Comprehensive income consists of net income (loss) and other gains and losses affecting shareholders’ equity that are excluded from net income (loss), including foreign currency translation adjustments, prior service costs and credits, transition assets or obligations associated with pension or other post retirement benefits that have not been recognized as components of net periodic benefit costs, net unrealized gains or losses on securities, and unrealized gains and losses on financial instruments qualifying for cash flow hedge accounting, and is presented in the accompanying Consolidated Statements of Comprehensive Income. See Note 23 for further discussion. Present and Prospective Accounting Pronouncements In May 2014, the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) issued Accounting Standards Update (ASU) 2014-09, Revenue from Contracts with Customers (Topic 606), which supersedes the revenue recognition requirements in Accounting Standards Codification ("ASC") 605, Revenue Recognition. The new revenue recognition standard requires entities to recognize revenue in a way that depicts the transfer of promised goods or services to customers in an amount that reflects the consideration to which the entity expects to be entitled to in exchange for those goods or services. The ASU 2014-09 will replace most existing revenue recognition guidance in U.S. GAAP when it becomes effective. The new standard is effective on January 1, 2018. LP is currently evaluating the effect that adopting this new accounting guidance will have on its consolidated results of operations and financial position. In April 2015, the FASB issued ASU No. 2015-03, Interest - Imputation of Interest (Subtopic 835-30): Simplifying the Presentation of Debt Issuance Costs. The amendments in this ASU require that debt issuance costs related to a recognized debt liability be presented in the balance sheet as a direct deduction from the carrying amount of that debt liability, consistent with debt discounts.ASU 2015-03 is effective for annual reporting periods beginning after December 15, 2015, including interim periods within the reporting periods and it applied retrospectively. Early adoption is permitted for financial statements that have not been previously issued. LP early adopted this standard as of June 30, 2015. Prior to ASU 2015-03, deferred debt costs were reported on the balance sheet as assets and amortized as interest expense. The Consolidated Balance Sheet as of December 31, 2014 has been adjusted to apply the change in accounting principle retrospectively. There is no effect on the income statement as a result of the change in accounting principle. Debt issuance costs of $4.7 million previously reported as assets on the Consolidated Balance Sheet as of December 31, 2014 have been reclassified as a direct deduction from the carrying amount of the related debt liability. Debt issuance costs associated with current line of credit remain an asset. In July 2015, the FASB issued ASU 2015-11, which requires entities to measure most inventory "at the lower of cost and net realizable value," thereby simplifying the current guidance under which an entity must measure inventory at the lower of cost of market. LP currently values all inventory at the lower of cost of market. The ASU will not apply to inventories that are measured by using the last -in, first out (LIFO), which is the method that LP currently uses for a minor portion of its log inventories. The remaining inventories are valued using first-in, first out or average cost. This ASU is effective prospectively for annual periods beginning after December 15, 2016 and interim periods therein. LP is currently evaluating the effect that adopting this new accounting guidance will have on its consolidated results of operations and financial position. In September 2015, the FASB issued ASU 2015-16, Simplifying the Accounting for Measurement-Period Adjustments, as part of its simplification initiative. The new standard requires an acquirer to recognize adjustments to provisional amounts that are identified during the measurement period in the reporting period in which the adjustment amounts are determined. The ASU also requires the acquirer to present separately on the face of the income statement, or disclose in the notes, the portion of the amount recorded in current-period earnings by line item that would have been recorded in previous reporting periods if the adjustment to the provisional amounts had been recognized as of the acquisition date. This ASU is effective prospectively for annual periods beginning after December 15, 2015 and interim periods therein. In November 2015, the FASB issued ASU 2015-17, “Balance Sheet Classification of Deferred Taxes”, which simplifies the presentation of deferred income taxes. This ASU requires that deferred tax assets and liabilities be classified as non-current in a statement of financial position. LP early adopted ASU 2015-17 effective December 31, 2015 on a prospective basis. Adoption of this ASU resulted in a reclassification of LP's net current deferred tax asset to the net non-current deferred tax asset in our Consolidated Balance Sheet as of December 31, 2015. No prior periods were retrospectively adjusted. The adoption of this guidance had no impact on LP's consolidated results of operations.

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