SUMMARY OF SIGNFICANT ACCOUNTING POLICIES

Basis of Consolidation. The consolidated financial statements reflect the accounts of the Company and its wholly-owned and majority-owned subsidiaries. All significant intercompany profits, transactions and balances have been eliminated in consolidation.

Reclassifications. Certain prior period amounts have been reclassified to conform to the current year presentation.

Use of Estimates. The preparation of consolidated financial statements in conformity with U.S. generally accepted accounting principles requires management to make estimates and assumptions that directly affect the amounts reported in its consolidated financial statements and accompanying notes. Actual results could differ from these estimates.

Cash and Cash Equivalents. Cash and cash equivalents include all highly liquid investments with a maturity of three months or less at the time of purchase.

Accounts Receivable. Accounts receivable are shown net of allowance for doubtful accounts and primarily include trade receivables. The Company records and maintains a provision for doubtful accounts for customers based upon a variety of factors including the Company’s historical collection experience, the length of time the account has been outstanding and the financial condition of the customer. If the circumstances related to specific customers were to change, the Company’s estimates with respect to the collectability of the related accounts could be further adjusted. The Company’s policy is to write-off receivables when they are determined to be uncollectible. Provisions to the allowance for doubtful accounts are charged to Selling and General and Administrative Expenses in the Consolidated Statements of Operations. The following table presents the changes in the allowance for doubtful accounts (in thousands):



	Years ended December 31,
	2018			2017			2016
Balance at beginning of year	$	869		$	951		$	956
Provision	63			119			117
Write-offs, net of recoveries	(267		)	(201		)	(122		)
Balance at end of year	$	665		$	869		$	951

Inventories. Inventories are stated at the lower of cost, determined on either the first-in, first-out or average cost method, or net realizable value. The cost of manufactured inventory includes raw material, labor and overhead.

Prepaid Expenses and Other. Prepaid expenses and other as of December 31, 2018 and 2017 consists of the following (in thousands):



	December 31,
	2018		2017
Chassis converter pool agreements	$	22,273	$	18,326
Income tax receivables	9,872		10,821
Insurance premiums & maintenance agreements	3,313		6,860
Assets held for sale	3,039		10,777
All other	12,764		10,515
	$	51,261	$	57,299

Chassis converter pool agreements represent chassis transferred to the Company on a restricted basis by the manufacturer, who retains the sole authority to authorize commencement of work on the chassis and to make certain other decisions with respect to the chassis including the terms and pricing of sales to the manufacturer’s dealers. Assets held for sale are related to the Company’s locations which are being actively marketed for sale. Insurance premiums and maintenance agreements are charged to expense over the contractual life, which is generally one year or less. Other prepaid items consist primarily of costs in excess of billings on contracts for which the Company recognizes revenue on an over time basis and investments held by the Company’s captive insurance subsidiary.

Property, Plant and Equipment. Property, plant and equipment are recorded at cost, net of accumulated depreciation. Maintenance and repairs are charged to expense as incurred, while expenditures that extend the useful life of an asset are capitalized. Depreciation is recorded using the straight-line method over the estimated useful lives of the depreciable assets. The estimated useful lives are up to 33 years for buildings and building improvements and range from three to ten years for machinery and equipment.

Goodwill. Goodwill represents the excess purchase price over fair value of the net assets acquired. The Company reviews goodwill for impairment, at the reporting unit level, annually on October 1 and whenever events or changes in circumstances indicate its carrying value may not be recoverable. In accordance with ASC 350, Intangibles – Goodwill and Other, goodwill is reviewed for impairment utilizing either a qualitative assessment or a quantitative process.

The Company has the option to first assess qualitative factors to determine whether the existence of events or circumstances leads to a determination that it is more likely than not that the fair value of a reporting unit is less than its carrying amount. An entity has an unconditional option to bypass the qualitative assessment in any period and proceed directly to performing the quantitative impairment test, which is the option the Company has historically chosen.

For reporting units in which the Company performs the quantitative analysis, the Company compares the carrying value, including goodwill, of each reporting unit with its estimated fair value. If the fair value of the reporting unit exceeds its carrying value, the goodwill is not considered impaired. If the carrying value is greater than the fair value, the difference is recognized as an impairment loss charged to the reporting unit. After an impairment loss is recognized, the adjusted carrying amount of goodwill shall be its new accounting basis.

In the third quarter of 2018, the Aviation and Truck Equipment (“AVTE”) reporting unit within the Diversified Products reportable segment did not perform in-line with forecasted results driven by unfavorable market conditions that we believe will continue to impact the reporting unit for the foreseeable future. As a result, an indicator of impairment was identified, and we performed an interim quantitative assessment as of September 30, 2018, utilizing a combination of the income and market approaches. The results of the quantitative analysis indicated the carrying value of the reporting unit exceeded the fair value of the reporting unit and, accordingly, a goodwill impairment of $4.9 million was recorded

The Company exercised its unconditional option to bypass the qualitative assessment of goodwill for all of its reporting units and instead prepared a quantitative assessment to estimate the fair value of each reporting unit at the annual testing date of October 1, 2018 utilizing a combination of the income approach and the market approach, weighted equally. Based on the quantitative assessment performed, all of the Company’s reporting units substantially exceeded their carrying values; as such, there is no goodwill impairment as a result of the 2018 annual goodwill impairment test.

Long-Lived Assets. Long-lived assets, consisting primarily of intangible assets and property, plant and equipment, are reviewed for impairment whenever facts and circumstances indicate that the carrying amount may not be recoverable. Specifically, this process involves comparing an asset’s carrying value to the estimated undiscounted future cash flows the asset is expected to generate over its remaining life. If this process were to result in the conclusion that the carrying value of a long-lived asset would not be recoverable, a write-down of the asset to fair value would be recorded through a charge to operations. Fair value is determined based upon discounted cash flows or appraisals as appropriate.

In the third quarter of 2018, due to the impairment indicators noted above related to the AVTE reporting unit with the Diversified Products reportable segment, the Company performed an interim impairment assessment of the long-lived assets of the AVTE reporting unit, including intangible assets and property, plant and equipment. Based on the results of our analysis it was determined that the carrying values of the trade names and property, plant and equipment of the AVTE reporting unit exceeded their fair values and, accordingly, an asset impairment charge totaling $7.1 million was recorded.

Aviation and Truck Equipment Impairments. On January 22, 2019 the Company announced the divestiture of the AVTE business. Refer to Note 22, Subsequent Events, for more details on the transaction. In the fourth quarter of 2018, with the financial framework of the agreement to sell the AVTE business largely agreed to with the buyers, the Company evaluated the remaining assets of AVTE for impairment based on the economics of the, then proposed, transaction. As a result of the Company’s impairment analysis, an impairment of $13.0 million was recorded to fully impair all current assets of the AVTE business.

Other Assets. The Company capitalizes the cost of computer software developed or obtained for internal use. Capitalized software is amortized using the straight-line method over three to seven years. As of December 31, 2018 and 2017, the Company had software costs, net of amortization, of $7.9 million and $7.3 million, respectively. Amortization expense for 2018, 2017, and 2016 was $1.5 million, $1.3 million, and $1.0 million, respectively.

Warranties. The Company offers a limited warranty for its products with a coverage period that ranges between one and five years, except that the coverage period for DuraPlate^® trailer panels is ten years. The Company passes through component manufacturers’ warranties to our customers. The Company’s policy is to accrue the estimated cost of warranty coverage at the time of the sale.

The following table presents the changes in the product warranty accrual included in Other Accrued Liabilities (in thousands):



	2018			2017
Balance as of January 1	$	20,132		$	20,520
Provision for warranties issued in current year	8,026			5,873
Liability adjustment due to divestiture of business	(420		)	—
Supreme acquisition	—			1,421
Provision for pre-existing warranties	—			(970		)
Payments	(5,491		)	(6,712		)
Balance as of December 31	$	22,247		$	20,132

Self Insured Liabilities. The Company is self-insured up to specified limits for medical and workers’ compensation coverage. The self-insurance reserves have been recorded to reflect the undiscounted estimated liabilities, including claims incurred but not reported, as well as catastrophic claims as appropriate.

The following table presents the changes in the self-insurance accrual included in Other Accrued Liabilities (in thousands):



	2018			2017
Balance as of January 1	$	9,996		$	8,387
Expense	66,493			38,817
Supreme Acquisition	—			2,555
Payments	(66,599		)	(39,763		)
Balance as of December 31	$	9,890		$	9,996

Income Taxes. The Company determines its provision or benefit for income taxes under the asset and liability method. The asset and liability method measures the expected tax impact at current enacted rates of future taxable income or deductions resulting from differences in the tax and financial reporting basis of assets and liabilities reflected in the Consolidated Balance Sheets. Future tax benefits of tax losses and credit carryforwards are recognized as deferred tax assets. Deferred tax assets are reduced by a valuation allowance to the extent management determines that it is more-likely-than-not the Company would not realize the value of these assets.

The Company accounts for income tax contingencies by prescribing a “more-likely-than-not” recognition threshold that a tax position is required to meet before being recognized in the financial statements.

Used Trailer Trade Commitments. The Company may accept trade-in of used trailers when a customer enters into a contract to purchase a new trailer. However, in the contracts for the sale of the new trailers, there is no commitment to repurchase that trailer or a similar trailer in the future. The Company acquired used trailers on trade of $3.2 million, $9.5 million, and $4.6 million in 2018, 2017, and 2016, respectively. As of December 31, 2018, the Company had no outstanding trade commitments and $3.2 million as of December 31, 2017, which also represented the estimated net realizable value of the underlying used trailer. On occasion, the amount of the trade allowance provided for in the used trailer commitments, or cost, may exceed the net realizable value of the underlying used trailer. In these instances, the Company’s policy is to recognize the loss related to these commitments at the time the new trailer revenue is recognized. Net realizable value of used trailers is measured considering market sales data for comparable types of trailers.

Concentration of Credit Risk. Financial instruments that potentially subject us to significant concentrations of credit risk consist principally of cash, cash equivalents and customer receivables. We place our cash and cash equivalents with high quality financial institutions. Generally, we do not require collateral or other security to support customer receivables.

Research and Development. Research and development expenses are charged to Cost of Sales and General and Administrative Expenses in the Consolidated Statements of Operations as incurred and were $8.8 million, $3.9 million and $6.4 million in 2018, 2017 and 2016, respectively.