Summary of Significant Accounting Policies (Policies)

3 Months Ended

Mar. 31, 2017

The accompanying consolidated financial statements of the Company and the operating partnership are prepared in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles in the United States (“GAAP”) applicable to interim financial information and with the instructions to Form 10-Q and Rule 10-01 of Regulation S-X. Certain information and footnote disclosures required for annual financial statements have been condensed or excluded pursuant to SEC rules and regulations. Accordingly, the interim financial statements do not include all of the information and footnotes required by GAAP for complete financial statements. In the opinion of management, the accompanying interim financial statements reflect all adjustments of a normal and recurring nature that are considered necessary for a fair presentation of the results for the interim periods presented.

The results of operations for the interim periods are not necessarily indicative of the results that may be expected for the year ended December 31, 2017. The interim consolidated financial statements should be read in conjunction with the consolidated financial statements in the 2016 Annual Report on Form 10-K of Hudson Pacific Properties, Inc. and Hudson Pacific Properties, L.P. and the notes thereto.

Certain amounts in the consolidated financial statements for the prior period have been reclassified to conform to the current period presentation. Specifically, in the Consolidated Balance Sheets for the prior period, certain amounts have been reclassified to held for sale. These amounts relate to 3402 Pico Boulevard, which was sold on March 21, 2017.

Principles of Consolidation

The unaudited interim consolidated financial statements of the Company include the accounts of the Company, the operating partnership and all wholly owned subsidiaries and variable interest entities (“VIEs”), of which the Company is the primary beneficiary. The unaudited interim consolidated financial statements of the operating partnership include the accounts of the operating partnership, and all wholly owned subsidiaries and VIEs of which the operating partnership is the primary beneficiary. All intercompany balances and transactions have been eliminated in the consolidated financial statements.

The Company consolidates all VIEs of which the Company is considered the primary beneficiary. VIEs are defined as entities in which equity investors (i) do not have the characteristics of a controlling financial interest and/or (ii) do not have sufficient equity at risk for the entity to finance its activities without additional subordinated financial support from other parties. The entity that consolidates a VIE is known as its primary beneficiary and is generally the entity with (i) the power to direct the activities that most significantly affect the VIE’s economic performance and (ii) the right to receive benefits from the VIE or the obligation to absorb losses of the VIE that could be significant to the VIE. Four of the Company’s joint ventures and its operating partnership meet the definition of a VIE. The Company is the primary beneficiary of and consolidates three of the joint ventures and the operating partnership. Refer to Note 16 for details. Substantially all of the assets and liabilities of the Company are related to these VIEs. The Company is not consolidating one of its joint ventures, of which it is not the primary beneficiary, and an interest in land. Due to its significant influence over these entities, the Company accounts for them using the equity method of accounting. Refer to Note 7 for details.

Use of Estimates

The preparation of financial statements in conformity with GAAP requires management to make estimates and assumptions that affect the reported amounts of assets and liabilities and disclosure of commitments and contingencies at the date of the financial statements and the reported amounts of revenues and expenses during the reporting period. On an ongoing basis, the Company evaluates its estimates, including those related to acquiring, developing and assessing the carrying values of its real estate properties, its accrued liabilities and its performance-based equity compensation awards. The Company bases its estimates on historical experience, current market conditions and various other assumptions that are believed to be reasonable under the circumstances. Actual results could materially differ from these estimates.

Recently Issued Accounting Pronouncements

Changes to GAAP are established by the Financial Accounting Standards Board (the “FASB”) in the form of Accounting Standards Update (“ASU”). The following ASUs were adopted by the Company in the first quarter of 2017:



Standard	Description	Effect on the financial statements or other significant matters
ASU 2017-03, Accounting Changes and Error Corrections (Topic 250) and Investments—Equity Method and Joint Ventures (Topic 323): Amendments to SEC Paragraphs Pursuant to Staff Announcements at the September 22, 2016 and November 17, 2016 EITF Meetings (SEC Update)	The guidance in this ASU is based on two SEC staff announcements made at the September 2016 and November 2016 EITF meetings. In the September meeting, the SEC announced that a registrant should disclose the potential material effects of the ASUs related to revenues, leases and credit losses on financial instruments. As a result of the November meeting, the ASU conforms Accounting Standards Codification (“ASC”) 323 to the guidance issued in ASU 2014-01 related to investments in qualified affordable housing projects.	With the adoption of this guidance, the Company is required to provide updates on its implementation of the ASUs related to revenue, leases and credit losses on financial instruments. Please refer to the table below for updates on the revenue and lease ASUs. The credit losses on financial instruments ASU is not anticipated to have a material impact on the Company.
ASU 2016-19, Technical Corrections and Improvements	The technical corrections make minor change to certain aspects of the FASB ASC, including changes to resolve differences between current and pre-Codification guidance, updates to wording, references to avoid misapplication and textual simplifications to increase the Codification’s utility and understandability and minor amendments to guidance that are not expected to have a significant effect on current accounting practice or create a significant administrative cost to most entities.	The adoption did not have a material impact on the Company’s consolidated financial statements.
ASU 2016-17, Consolidation (Topic 810): Interests Held through Related Parties That Are under Common Control	This guidance outlines how a single decisionmaker of a VIE should treat indirect interests held through other related parties that are under common control with the reporting entity when determining whether it is the primary beneficiary of that VIE.	The adoption did not have a material impact on the Company’s consolidated financial statements and did not change the consolidation conclusion.
ASU 2016-07, Investments—Equity Method and Joint Ventures (Topic 323), Simplifying the Transition to the Equity Method of Accounting	The guidance eliminates the requirement that an investor retrospectively apply equity method accounting when an investment that it had accounted for by another method initially qualifies for use of the equity method. The guidance also requires an investor that has an available-for-sale security that subsequently qualifies for the equity method to recognize in net income the unrealized holding gains or losses in accumulated other comprehensive income related to that security when it begins applying the equity method.	The adoption did not have a material impact on the Company’s consolidated financial statements.
ASU 2016-05, Derivatives and Hedging (Topic 815), Effect of Derivative Contract Novations on Existing Hedge Accounting Relationships	The guidance states that the novation of a derivative contract (e.g., a change in the counterparty) in a hedge accounting relationship does not, in and of itself, require dedesignation of that hedge accounting relationship. The hedge accounting relationship could continue uninterrupted if all of the other hedge accounting criteria are met, including the expectation that the hedge will be highly effective when the creditworthiness of the new counterparty to the derivative contract is considered.	The adoption did not have a material impact on the Company’s consolidated financial statements.

As required by ASU 2017-03, the Company is providing updates to the revenue and lease standard on a quarterly basis, as follows:



Standard	Description	Effect on the financial statements or other significant matters
ASU related to Revenue from Contracts with Customers (Topic 606)	The new revenue standard was amended through various ASU’s. The ASU’s that impact the Company are ASU 2016-08, Revenue from Contracts with Customers (Topic 606): Principal versus Agent Considerations (Reporting Revenue Gross versus Net) and ASU 2014-09, Revenue from Contracts with Customers. ASU 2016-08 clarifies certain aspects of the principal-versus-agent guidance in its new revenue recognition standard related to the determination of whether an entity is a principal-versus-agent and the determination of the nature of each specified good or service. ASU 2014-09 outlines a single comprehensive model for entities to use in accounting for revenues arising from contracts with customers and specifically notes that lease contracts with customers are a scope exception.	The Company does not expect this guidance to have a material effect on revenue recognition as it relates to its leasing contracts until the adoption of ASU 2016-02, at which time the standard may affect revenue recognition as it relates to certain non-lease revenue components that are part of its leasing contracts. The Company has formed an implementation work team, completed training of the new standards with the implementation team, and begun review and documentation. The Company is currently evaluating this standard as it relates to media and entertainment other property-related revenue. The Company has the option of adopting this standard on either the full retrospective basis (to the beginning of its contracts) or modified retrospective method (from the beginning of the latest fiscal year of adoption). The Company plans on adopting the standard January 1, 2018 using the modified retrospective method.
ASU 2016-02, Leases	This guidance requires all lessees to record a lease liability at lease inception, with a corresponding right of use asset, except for short-term leases. Lessor accounting will not be fundamentally changed.	The Company has formed an implementation work team, completed training of the new standards with the implementation team, and begun review and documentation. The Company is currently in the process of evaluating the amount of assets and liabilities relating to right of use that will need to be recorded with respect to its leases where it is the lessee. Additionally, the standard will impact the way the Company will record revenue and leasing costs where it is the lessor. For leasing costs, the Company will no longer be able to capitalize internal leasing costs to the extent they are not directly attributable to the lease transaction. Accordingly, the Company anticipates that internal leasing costs will be expensed with the adoption of this standard. With respect to the lease revenue, the Company will need to break down its current revenue streams between leasing and non-leasing components. To the extent there are non-leasing components the Company will need to record them in accordance with ASC 606 (see above). The Company is still in the process of evaluating its existing leasing components to determine what effect, if any, this standard will have on its revenue recognition as it relates to its leases. The Company will adopt the standard using the retrospective method from the beginning of the first year presented on the consolidated statement of operations which is January 1, 2017.

The Company considers the applicability and impact of all ASUs. The following table lists the recently issued ASUs that have not been disclosed in the Company’s Annual Report on Form 10-K and have not been adopted by the Company. The list excludes those ASUs that are expected to have an immaterial impact on the Company’s consolidated financial statements.

Description

Effective Date

Effect on the financial statements or other significant matters

ASU 2017-05, Other Income—Gains and Losses from the Derecognition of Nonfinancial Assets (Subtopic 610-20): Clarifying the Scope of Asset Derecognition Guidance and Accounting for Partial Sales of Nonfinancial Assets

The guidance clarifies the scope of ASC 610-20 on the sale or transfer of nonfinancial assets and in substance nonfinancial assets to noncustomers, including partial sales.

Effective for annual reporting periods (including interim periods) beginning after December 15, 2017

The Company is currently assessing the impact of this update on its consolidated financial statements and notes to the consolidated financial statements and plans to adopt this guidance in the first quarter in 2018.