Significant Accounting Policies (Policies)	9 Months Ended
Jun. 30, 2019
Organization Consolidation And Presentation Of Financial Statements [Abstract]
Basis of Presentation	Basis of presentation The accompanying unaudited Condensed Consolidated Financial Statements have been prepared in accordance with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States for interim financial reporting and Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) regulations. In the opinion of management, all adjustments considered necessary for a fair presentation have been included. Additionally, certain prior period data, primarily related to discontinued operations, have been reclassified in the Consolidated Financial Statements and accompanying notes to conform to the current period presentation, as further described in this section. These statements omit certain information and footnote disclosures required for complete annual financial statements and, therefore, should be read in conjunction with Ashland Global Holdings Inc.’s (Ashland or the Company) Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended September 30, 2018. Results of operations for the period ended June 30, 2019 are not necessarily indicative of the expected results for the remaining quarters in the fiscal year. On November 15, 2018, Ashland announced that it had signed a definitive agreement to sell substantially all of the assets and liabilities of its Composites segment and Intermediates and Solvents facility in Marl, Germany (Marl facility). This expected divestiture represents a strategic shift in Ashland's business and, in accordance with U.S. GAAP, qualified as a discontinued operation. As a result, the operating results and cash flows related to Composites and the Marl facility have been reflected as discontinued operations in the Statements of Consolidated Comprehensive Income (Loss) and Statements of Condensed Consolidated Cash Flows. The assets and liabilities that are to be sold have met the requirements to be classified within the Condensed Consolidated Balance Sheets under a held for sale designation. See Notes B and C for additional information on this expected divestiture. As a result of classifying the Composites reporting segment as a discontinued operation, Ashland is now comprised of two reportable segments: Specialty Ingredients and Intermediates and Solvents. The financial information reported for Intermediates and Solvents excludes the activity from the Marl facility due to the expected divestiture.
Use of Estimates, Risk and Uncertainties	Use of estimates, risks and uncertainties The preparation of Ashland’s Condensed Consolidated Financial Statements in conformity with U.S. GAAP requires management to make estimates and assumptions that affect the reported amounts of assets, liabilities, revenues and expenses, and the disclosures of contingent assets and liabilities. Significant items that are subject to such estimates and assumptions include, but are not limited to, long-lived assets (including goodwill and other intangible assets), income taxes and liabilities and receivables associated with asbestos litigation and environmental remediation. Although management bases its estimates on historical experience and various other assumptions that are believed to be reasonable under the circumstances, actual results could differ significantly from the estimates under different assumptions or conditions. Ashland’s results are affected by domestic and international economic, political, legislative, regulatory and legal actions. Economic conditions, such as recessionary trends, inflation, interest and monetary exchange rates, government fiscal policies and changes in the prices of certain key raw materials, can have a significant effect on operations. While Ashland maintains reserves for anticipated liabilities and carries various levels of insurance, Ashland could be affected by civil, criminal, regulatory or administrative actions, claims or proceedings relating to asbestos, environmental remediation or other matters.
New Accounting Pronouncements	New accounting pronouncements A description of new U.S. GAAP accounting standards issued or adopted during the current year is required in interim financial reporting. A detailed listing of new accounting standards relevant to Ashland is included in the Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended September 30, 2018. The following standards relevant to Ashland were either issued or adopted in the current period or will become effective in a subsequent period. Revenue recognition In May 2014, the FASB issued accounting guidance outlining a single comprehensive five step model for entities to use in accounting for revenue arising from contracts with customers (ASC 606 Revenue from Contracts with Customers). The new guidance and subsequent amendments to it superseded most current revenue recognition guidance, in an effort to converge the revenue recognition principles within U.S. GAAP. This new guidance required entities to disclose certain quantitative and qualitative information regarding the nature, amount, timing and uncertainty of qualifying revenue and cash flows arising from contracts with customers. Entities had the option of using a full retrospective or a modified retrospective approach to adopt the new guidance. This guidance became effective for Ashland on October 1, 2018. Ashland formed an implementation team that evaluated the impact of the new standard on the Condensed Consolidated Financial Statements and the adoption method options available as well as the overall impact the new guidance would have on the organization. The assessment process consisted of categorizing Ashland’s revenue streams and reviewing the current internal accounting policies and practices to determine potential differences that could result from applying the requirements of the new standard to revenue contracts. Additional discussions and meetings with each revenue stream team occurred to solicit input, identify potential impacts and appropriate changes to Ashland’s business processes, systems and controls to support the revenue recognition and disclosure requirements under the new standard. Ashland elected to adopt this standard using the modified retrospective approach and determined that the overall impact was not material to the Condensed Consolidated Financial Statements. As a result, no cumulative-effect adjustment was made to retained earnings in the Condensed Consolidated Balance Sheets. Further, there has been no significant change to the manner and timing of recognizing revenue. However, there are significant additional disclosures within the Notes to Condensed Consolidated Financial Statements. ASC 606 requires disclosure of disaggregated revenue into categories that depict the nature of how Ashland's revenue and cash flows are affected by economic factors. Additionally, Ashland is required to disclose additional information related to its revenue recognition policy. See Note O for these additional disclosures. Leases In February 2016, the FASB issued new accounting guidance related to lease transactions. The main objective of this guidance is to increase transparency and comparability among organizations by requiring lessees to recognize assets and liabilities on the balance sheet for the right to use assets and obligations created by leases and to disclose key information about leasing arrangements. The presentation of the Statements of Consolidated Comprehensive Income (Loss) and the Statements of Condensed Consolidated Cash Flows is largely unchanged under this guidance. This guidance retains a distinction between finance leases and operating leases, and the classification criteria for distinguishing between finance leases and operating leases are substantially similar to the classification criteria for distinguishing between capital leases and operating leases in the current accounting literature. The guidance will become effective for Ashland on October 1, 2019 and it will have a significant effect on Ashland’s Condensed Consolidated Balance Sheet and disclosures. In July 2018, the FASB amended this guidance to give entities the option to apply the standard at the adoption date and recognize a cumulative-effect adjustment to the opening balance of retained earnings in the period of adoption. Ashland will utilize this transition method upon adopting the guidance. Ashland will also elect the practical expedient package related to the identification, classification and accounting for initial direct costs whereby prior conclusions do not have to be reassessed for leases that commenced before the effective date. As Ashland will not reassess such conclusions, Ashland does not plan to adopt the practical expedient to use hindsight to determine the likelihood of whether a lease will be extended, terminated or whether a purchase option will be exercised. Ashland’s implementation team is continuing to identify leases, determine policy elections, gather data, implement changes to business processes and controls, and quantifying the impact that this guidance will have within its Condensed Consolidated Financial Statements. Other accounting pronouncements In January 2016, the FASB issued accounting guidance related to the recognition and measurement as well as the presentation and disclosures for certain financial instruments. Most notably, the guidance requires entities to measure equity investments at fair value and to recognize any changes in fair value in net income rather than accumulated other comprehensive income (AOCI). The guidance became effective for Ashland on October 1, 2018 and resulted in Ashland recording a cumulative-effect adjustment to reclassify net after-tax unrealized gains of $34 million on its equity securities from AOCI to retained earnings. In the current period, the adoption of this guidance resulted in a significant impact to net income as Ashland recognized investment gains of $6 million and $3 million for the three and nine months ended June 30, 2019, respectively, within the net interest and other expense caption on the Statement of Consolidated Comprehensive Income (Loss). The impact of this new guidance could continue to have a material impact on Ashland’s Statements of Consolidated Comprehensive Income (Loss) in prospective periods depending on the fluctuations of unrealized gains and losses within the investment securities portfolio. For current and future periods, the changes in fair value of the equity securities will no longer be classified within other comprehensive income under the new guidance. For further information on Ashland’s equity securities, see Note E. In October 2016, the FASB issued new accounting guidance which requires entities to recognize the income tax effects of intercompany transfers of assets other than inventory when the transfer occurs. This guidance eliminates the exception under previous U.S. GAAP that the income tax effects of all intercompany transfers of assets other than inventory be deferred until the assets are sold to a third party or otherwise recovered through use. This guidance became effective for Ashland on October 1, 2018 and was applied using a modified retrospective approach. Consequently, Ashland recorded a cumulative-effect adjustment to reclassify less than $1 million from other current assets and deferred taxes to retained earnings.
Fair Value of Financial Instruments Policy	As required by U.S. GAAP, Ashland uses applicable guidance for defining fair value, the initial recording and periodic remeasurement of certain assets and liabilities measured at fair value and related disclosures for instruments measured at fair value. Fair value accounting guidance establishes a fair value hierarchy, which prioritizes the inputs to valuation techniques used to measure fair value into three broad levels. The fair value hierarchy gives the highest priority to quoted prices in active markets for identical assets or liabilities (Level 1) and the lowest priority to unobservable inputs (Level 3). An instrument’s categorization within the fair value hierarchy is based upon the lowest level of input that is significant to the instrument’s fair value measurement. The three levels within the fair value hierarchy are described as follows. Level 1 – Observable inputs such as unadjusted quoted prices in active markets for identical assets or liabilities. Level 2 – Inputs other than quoted prices included within Level 1 that are observable for the asset or liability, either directly or indirectly. These include quoted prices for similar assets or liabilities in active markets and quoted prices for identical or similar assets or liabilities in markets that are not active. Level 3 – Unobservable inputs for the asset or liability for which there is little, if any, market activity at the measurement date. Unobservable inputs reflect Ashland’s own assumptions about what market participants would use to price the asset or liability. The inputs are developed based on the best information available in the circumstances, which might include Ashland’s own financial data such as internally developed pricing models, discounted cash flow methodologies, as well as instruments for which the fair value determination requires significant management judgment. For assets that are measured using quoted prices in active markets (Level 1), the total fair value is the published market price per unit multiplied by the number of units held without consideration of transaction costs. Assets and liabilities that are measured using significant other observable inputs (Level 2) are primarily valued by reference to quoted prices of similar assets or liabilities in active markets, adjusted for any terms specific to that asset or liability. For all other assets and liabilities for which unobservable inputs are used (Level 3), fair value is derived using fair value models, such as a discounted cash flow model or other standard pricing models that Ashland deems reasonable.
Inventories	Inventories are carried at the lower of cost or net realizable value. Inventories are primarily stated at cost using the weighted-average cost method. In addition, certain inventories are valued at cost using the last-in, first-out (LIFO) method.
Goodwill and Intangible Assets, Goodwill	Ashland reviews goodwill and indefinite-lived intangible assets for impairment annually or when events and circumstances indicate an impairment may have occurred. This annual assessment is performed as of July 1 and consists of Ashland determining each reporting unit’s current fair value compared to its current carrying value. For its July 1, 2018 assessment, Ashland determined that its reporting units for the allocation of goodwill were its three reportable segments: Specialty Ingredients, Composites and Intermediates and Solvents. At that time, Ashland determined no additional impairment existed. Due to the expected divestiture of the Composites reporting unit, Ashland has two remaining reporting units as of June 30, 2019: Specialty Ingredients and Intermediates and Solvents. See Note B for more information on the expected divestiture.
Finite-Lived Intangible Asset	Intangible assets principally consist of trademarks and trade names, intellectual property and customer and supplier relationships. Intangible assets classified as finite are amortized on a straight-line basis over their estimated useful lives. The cost of trademarks and trade names is amortized principally over 3 to 25 years, intellectual property over 5 to 25 years, and customer and supplier relationships over 3 to 24 years.
Goodwill and Intangible Assets, Intangible Assets, Indefinite-Lived	Ashland annually reviews indefinite-lived intangible assets for possible impairment or whenever events or changes in circumstances indicate that carrying amounts may not be recoverable.
Commitments and Contingencies Policy	Ashland and Hercules have liabilities from claims alleging personal injury caused by exposure to asbestos. To assist in developing and annually updating independent reserve estimates for future asbestos claims and related costs given various assumptions, Ashland retained Nathan Associates Inc. (Nathan). The methodology used by Nathan to project future asbestos costs is based largely on recent experience, including claim-filing and settlement rates, disease mix, enacted legislation, open claims and litigation defense. The claim experience of Ashland and Hercules are separately compared to the results of previously conducted third party epidemiological studies estimating the number of people likely to develop asbestos-related diseases. Those studies were undertaken in connection with national analyses of the population expected to have been exposed to asbestos. Using that information, Nathan estimates a range of the number of future claims that may be filed, as well as the related costs that may be incurred in resolving those claims. Changes in asbestos-related liabilities and receivables are recorded on an after-tax basis within the discontinued operations caption in the Statements of Consolidated Comprehensive Income (Loss).
Environmental Cost Policy	The total reserves for environmental remediation reflect Ashland’s estimates of the most likely costs that will be incurred over an extended period to remediate identified conditions for which the costs are reasonably estimable, without regard to any third-party recoveries. Engineering studies, probability techniques, historical experience and other factors are used to identify and evaluate remediation alternatives and their related costs in determining the estimated reserves for environmental remediation. Ashland continues to discount certain environmental sites and regularly adjusts its reserves as environmental remediation continues. Ashland has estimated the value of its probable insurance recoveries associated with its environmental reserve based on management’s interpretations and estimates surrounding the available or applicable insurance coverage.
Earnings Per Share	The following is the computation of basic and diluted earnings per share (EPS) from continuing operations attributable to Ashland. Stock appreciation rights (SARs), stock options and warrants available to purchase shares outstanding for each reporting period whose grant price was greater than the average market price of Ashland Common Stock for each applicable period were not included in the computation of income from continuing operations per diluted share because the effect of these instruments would be antidilutive. The total number of these shares outstanding was approximately 1 million and 0.7 million at June 30, 2019 and 2018, respectively. Earnings per share is reported under the treasury stock method.
Stock Incentive Plan Policy	Ashland has stock incentive plans under which key employees or directors are granted stock appreciation rights (SARs), performance awards or nonvested stock awards. Each program is typically a long-term incentive plan designed to link employee compensation with increased shareholder value or reward superior performance and encourage continued employment with Ashland. Ashland recognizes compensation expense for the grant date fair value of stock-based awards over the applicable vesting period.
Segment Reporting	Ashland determines its reportable segments based on how operations are managed internally for the products and services sold to customers, including how the results are reviewed by the chief operating decision maker, which includes determining resource allocation methodologies used for reportable segments. Operating income is the primary measure on the Statements of Consolidated Comprehensive Income (Loss) that is reviewed by the chief operating decision maker in assessing each reportable segment's financial performance. Ashland does not aggregate operating segments to arrive at these reportable segments.

Significant Accounting Policies (Policies)

9 Months Ended

Jun. 30, 2019

Organization Consolidation And Presentation Of Financial Statements [Abstract]

Basis of presentation

The accompanying unaudited Condensed Consolidated Financial Statements have been prepared in accordance with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States for interim financial reporting and Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) regulations. In the opinion of management, all adjustments considered necessary for a fair presentation have been included. Additionally, certain prior period data, primarily related to discontinued operations, have been reclassified in the Consolidated Financial Statements and accompanying notes to conform to the current period presentation, as further described in this section. These statements omit certain information and footnote disclosures required for complete annual financial statements and, therefore, should be read in conjunction with Ashland Global Holdings Inc.’s (Ashland or the Company) Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended September 30, 2018. Results of operations for the period ended June 30, 2019 are not necessarily indicative of the expected results for the remaining quarters in the fiscal year.

On November 15, 2018, Ashland announced that it had signed a definitive agreement to sell substantially all of the assets and liabilities of its Composites segment and Intermediates and Solvents facility in Marl, Germany (Marl facility). This expected divestiture represents a strategic shift in Ashland's business and, in accordance with U.S. GAAP, qualified as a discontinued operation. As a result, the operating results and cash flows related to Composites and the Marl facility have been reflected as discontinued operations in the Statements of Consolidated Comprehensive Income (Loss) and Statements of Condensed Consolidated Cash Flows. The assets and liabilities that are to be sold have met the requirements to be classified within the Condensed Consolidated Balance Sheets under a held for sale designation. See Notes B and C for additional information on this expected divestiture.

As a result of classifying the Composites reporting segment as a discontinued operation, Ashland is now comprised of two reportable segments: Specialty Ingredients and Intermediates and Solvents. The financial information reported for Intermediates and Solvents excludes the activity from the Marl facility due to the expected divestiture.

Use of Estimates, Risk and Uncertainties

Use of estimates, risks and uncertainties

The preparation of Ashland’s Condensed Consolidated Financial Statements in conformity with U.S. GAAP requires management to make estimates and assumptions that affect the reported amounts of assets, liabilities, revenues and expenses, and the disclosures of contingent assets and liabilities. Significant items that are subject to such estimates and assumptions include, but are not limited to, long-lived assets (including goodwill and other intangible assets), income taxes and liabilities and receivables associated with asbestos litigation and environmental remediation. Although management bases its estimates on historical experience and various other assumptions that are believed to be reasonable under the circumstances, actual results could differ significantly from the estimates under different assumptions or conditions.

Ashland’s results are affected by domestic and international economic, political, legislative, regulatory and legal actions. Economic conditions, such as recessionary trends, inflation, interest and monetary exchange rates, government fiscal policies and changes in the prices of certain key raw materials, can have a significant effect on operations. While Ashland maintains reserves for anticipated liabilities and carries various levels of insurance, Ashland could be affected by civil, criminal, regulatory or administrative actions, claims or proceedings relating to asbestos, environmental remediation or other matters.

New Accounting Pronouncements

New accounting pronouncements

A description of new U.S. GAAP accounting standards issued or adopted during the current year is required in interim financial reporting. A detailed listing of new accounting standards relevant to Ashland is included in the Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended September 30, 2018. The following standards relevant to Ashland were either issued or adopted in the current period or will become effective in a subsequent period.

Revenue recognition

In May 2014, the FASB issued accounting guidance outlining a single comprehensive five step model for entities to use in accounting for revenue arising from contracts with customers (ASC 606 Revenue from Contracts with Customers). The new guidance and subsequent amendments to it superseded most current revenue recognition guidance, in an effort to converge the revenue recognition principles within U.S. GAAP. This new guidance required entities to disclose certain quantitative and qualitative information regarding the nature, amount, timing and uncertainty of qualifying revenue and cash flows arising from contracts with customers. Entities had the option of using a full retrospective or a modified retrospective approach to adopt the new guidance. This guidance became effective for Ashland on October 1, 2018.

Ashland formed an implementation team that evaluated the impact of the new standard on the Condensed Consolidated Financial Statements and the adoption method options available as well as the overall impact the new guidance would have on the organization. The assessment process consisted of categorizing Ashland’s revenue streams and reviewing the current internal accounting policies and practices to determine potential differences that could result from applying the requirements of the new standard to revenue contracts. Additional discussions and meetings with each revenue stream team occurred to solicit input, identify potential impacts and appropriate changes to Ashland’s business processes, systems and controls to support the revenue recognition and disclosure requirements under the new standard.

Ashland elected to adopt this standard using the modified retrospective approach and determined that the overall impact was not material to the Condensed Consolidated Financial Statements. As a result, no cumulative-effect adjustment was made to retained earnings in the Condensed Consolidated Balance Sheets. Further, there has been no significant change to the manner and timing of recognizing revenue. However, there are significant additional disclosures within the Notes to Condensed Consolidated Financial Statements. ASC 606 requires disclosure of disaggregated revenue into categories that depict the nature of how Ashland's revenue and cash flows are affected by economic factors. Additionally, Ashland is required to disclose additional information related to its revenue recognition policy. See Note O for these additional disclosures.

Leases

In February 2016, the FASB issued new accounting guidance related to lease transactions. The main objective of this guidance is to increase transparency and comparability among organizations by requiring lessees to recognize assets and liabilities on the balance sheet for the right to use assets and obligations created by leases and to disclose key information about leasing arrangements. The presentation of the Statements of Consolidated Comprehensive Income (Loss) and the Statements of Condensed Consolidated Cash Flows is largely unchanged under this guidance. This guidance retains a distinction between finance leases and operating leases, and the classification criteria for distinguishing between finance leases and operating leases are substantially similar to the classification criteria for distinguishing between capital leases and operating leases in the current accounting literature. The guidance will become effective for Ashland on October 1, 2019 and it will have a significant effect on Ashland’s Condensed Consolidated Balance Sheet and disclosures.

In July 2018, the FASB amended this guidance to give entities the option to apply the standard at the adoption date and recognize a cumulative-effect adjustment to the opening balance of retained earnings in the period of adoption. Ashland will utilize this transition method upon adopting the guidance. Ashland will also elect the practical expedient package related to the identification, classification and accounting for initial direct costs whereby prior conclusions do not have to be reassessed for leases that commenced before the effective date. As Ashland will not reassess such conclusions, Ashland does not plan to adopt the practical expedient to use hindsight to determine the likelihood of whether a lease will be extended, terminated or whether a purchase option will be exercised.

Ashland’s implementation team is continuing to identify leases, determine policy elections, gather data, implement changes to business processes and controls, and quantifying the impact that this guidance will have within its Condensed Consolidated Financial Statements.

Other accounting pronouncements

In January 2016, the FASB issued accounting guidance related to the recognition and measurement as well as the presentation and disclosures for certain financial instruments. Most notably, the guidance requires entities to measure equity investments at fair value and to recognize any changes in fair value in net income rather than accumulated other comprehensive income (AOCI). The guidance became effective for Ashland on October 1, 2018 and resulted in Ashland recording a cumulative-effect adjustment to reclassify net after-tax unrealized gains of $34 million on its equity securities from AOCI to retained earnings. In the current period, the adoption of this guidance resulted in a significant impact to net income as Ashland recognized investment gains of $6 million and $3 million for the three and nine months ended June 30, 2019, respectively, within the net interest and other expense caption on the Statement of Consolidated Comprehensive Income (Loss). The impact of this new guidance could continue to have a material impact on Ashland’s Statements of Consolidated Comprehensive Income (Loss) in prospective periods depending on the fluctuations of unrealized gains and losses within the investment securities portfolio. For current and future periods, the changes in fair value of the equity securities will no longer be classified within other comprehensive income under the new guidance. For further information on Ashland’s equity securities, see Note E.

In October 2016, the FASB issued new accounting guidance which requires entities to recognize the income tax effects of intercompany transfers of assets other than inventory when the transfer occurs. This guidance eliminates the exception under previous U.S. GAAP that the income tax effects of all intercompany transfers of assets other than inventory be deferred until the assets are sold to a third party or otherwise recovered through use. This guidance became effective for Ashland on October 1, 2018 and was applied using a modified retrospective approach. Consequently, Ashland recorded a cumulative-effect adjustment to reclassify less than $1 million from other current assets and deferred taxes to retained earnings.

Fair Value of Financial Instruments Policy

As required by U.S. GAAP, Ashland uses applicable guidance for defining fair value, the initial recording and periodic remeasurement of certain assets and liabilities measured at fair value and related disclosures for instruments measured at fair value. Fair value accounting guidance establishes a fair value hierarchy, which prioritizes the inputs to valuation techniques used to measure fair value into three broad levels. The fair value hierarchy gives the highest priority to quoted prices in active markets for identical assets or liabilities (Level 1) and the lowest priority to unobservable inputs (Level 3). An instrument’s categorization within the fair value hierarchy is based upon the lowest level of input that is significant to the instrument’s fair value measurement. The three levels within the fair value hierarchy are described as follows.

Level 1 – Observable inputs such as unadjusted quoted prices in active markets for identical assets or liabilities.

Level 2 – Inputs other than quoted prices included within Level 1 that are observable for the asset or liability, either directly or indirectly. These include quoted prices for similar assets or liabilities in active markets and quoted prices for identical or similar assets or liabilities in markets that are not active.

Level 3 – Unobservable inputs for the asset or liability for which there is little, if any, market activity at the measurement date. Unobservable inputs reflect Ashland’s own assumptions about what market participants would use to price the asset or liability. The inputs are developed based on the best information available in the circumstances, which might include Ashland’s own financial data such as internally developed pricing models, discounted cash flow methodologies, as well as instruments for which the fair value determination requires significant management judgment.

For assets that are measured using quoted prices in active markets (Level 1), the total fair value is the published market price per unit multiplied by the number of units held without consideration of transaction costs. Assets and liabilities that are measured using significant other observable inputs (Level 2) are primarily valued by reference to quoted prices of similar assets or liabilities in active markets, adjusted for any terms specific to that asset or liability. For all other assets and liabilities for which unobservable inputs are used (Level 3), fair value is derived using fair value models, such as a discounted cash flow model or other standard pricing models that Ashland deems reasonable.

Inventories

Inventories are carried at the lower of cost or net realizable value. Inventories are primarily stated at cost using the weighted-average cost method. In addition, certain inventories are valued at cost using the last-in, first-out (LIFO) method.

Goodwill and Intangible Assets, Goodwill

Ashland reviews goodwill and indefinite-lived intangible assets for impairment annually or when events and circumstances indicate an impairment may have occurred. This annual assessment is performed as of July 1 and consists of Ashland determining each reporting unit’s current fair value compared to its current carrying value. For its July 1, 2018 assessment, Ashland determined that its reporting units for the allocation of goodwill were its three reportable segments: Specialty Ingredients, Composites and Intermediates and Solvents. At that time, Ashland determined no additional impairment existed. Due to the expected divestiture of the Composites reporting unit, Ashland has two remaining reporting units as of June 30, 2019: Specialty Ingredients and Intermediates and Solvents. See Note B for more information on the expected divestiture.

Finite-Lived Intangible Asset

Intangible assets principally consist of trademarks and trade names, intellectual property and customer and supplier relationships. Intangible assets classified as finite are amortized on a straight-line basis over their estimated useful lives. The cost of trademarks and trade names is amortized principally over 3 to 25 years, intellectual property over 5 to 25 years, and customer and supplier relationships over 3 to 24 years.

Goodwill and Intangible Assets, Intangible Assets, Indefinite-Lived

Ashland annually reviews indefinite-lived intangible assets for possible impairment or whenever events or changes in circumstances indicate that carrying amounts may not be recoverable.

Commitments and Contingencies Policy

Ashland and Hercules have liabilities from claims alleging personal injury caused by exposure to asbestos. To assist in developing and annually updating independent reserve estimates for future asbestos claims and related costs given various assumptions, Ashland retained Nathan Associates Inc. (Nathan). The methodology used by Nathan to project future asbestos costs is based largely on recent experience, including claim-filing and settlement rates, disease mix, enacted legislation, open claims and litigation defense. The claim experience of Ashland and Hercules are separately compared to the results of previously conducted third party epidemiological studies estimating the number of people likely to develop asbestos-related diseases. Those studies were undertaken in connection with national analyses of the population expected to have been exposed to asbestos. Using that information, Nathan estimates a range of the number of future claims that may be filed, as well as the related costs that may be incurred in resolving those claims. Changes in asbestos-related liabilities and receivables are recorded on an after-tax basis within the discontinued operations caption in the Statements of Consolidated Comprehensive Income (Loss).

Environmental Cost Policy

The total reserves for environmental remediation reflect Ashland’s estimates of the most likely costs that will be incurred over an extended period to remediate identified conditions for which the costs are reasonably estimable, without regard to any third-party recoveries. Engineering studies, probability techniques, historical experience and other factors are used to identify and evaluate remediation alternatives and their related costs in determining the estimated reserves for environmental remediation. Ashland continues to discount certain environmental sites and regularly adjusts its reserves as environmental remediation continues. Ashland has estimated the value of its probable insurance recoveries associated with its environmental reserve based on management’s interpretations and estimates surrounding the available or applicable insurance coverage.

Earnings Per Share

The following is the computation of basic and diluted earnings per share (EPS) from continuing operations attributable to Ashland. Stock appreciation rights (SARs), stock options and warrants available to purchase shares outstanding for each reporting period whose grant price was greater than the average market price of Ashland Common Stock for each applicable period were not included in the computation of income from continuing operations per diluted share because the effect of these instruments would be antidilutive. The total number of these shares outstanding was approximately 1 million and 0.7 million at June 30, 2019 and 2018, respectively. Earnings per share is reported under the treasury stock method.

Stock Incentive Plan Policy

Ashland has stock incentive plans under which key employees or directors are granted stock appreciation rights (SARs), performance awards or nonvested stock awards. Each program is typically a long-term incentive plan designed to link employee compensation with increased shareholder value or reward superior performance and encourage continued employment with Ashland. Ashland recognizes compensation expense for the grant date fair value of stock-based awards over the applicable vesting period.

Segment Reporting

Ashland determines its reportable segments based on how operations are managed internally for the products and services sold to customers, including how the results are reviewed by the chief operating decision maker, which includes determining resource allocation methodologies used for reportable segments. Operating income is the primary measure on the Statements of Consolidated Comprehensive Income (Loss) that is reviewed by the chief operating decision maker in assessing each reportable segment's financial performance. Ashland does not aggregate operating segments to arrive at these reportable segments.