Summary of Significant Accounting Policies (Policies)

3 Months Ended

Mar. 31, 2018

Revenue is recognized at an amount that reflects the consideration to which the company expects to be entitled in exchange for transferring goods and services to a customer. The company determines revenue recognition using the following five steps: (1) identify the contract(s) with a customer, (2) identify the performance obligations in the contract, (3) determine the transaction price, (4) allocate the transaction price to the performance obligations in the contract, and (5) recognize revenue when (or as) the company satisfies a performance obligation.

Revenue excludes taxes assessed by a governmental authority that are both imposed on and concurrent with a specific revenue-producing transaction and collected by the company from a customer (e.g., sales, use and value added taxes). Revenue includes payments for shipping and handling activities.

At contract inception, the company assesses the goods and services promised in a contract with a customer and identifies as a performance obligation each promise to transfer to the customer either: (1) a good or service (or a bundle of goods or services) that is distinct or (2) a series of distinct goods or services that are substantially the same and that have the same pattern of transfer to the customer. The company recognizes revenue only when it satisfies a performance obligation by transferring a promised good or service to a customer.

The company must apply its judgment to determine the timing of the satisfaction of performance obligations as well as the transaction price and the amounts allocated to performance obligations including estimating variable consideration, adjusting the consideration for the effects of the time value of money and assessing whether an estimate of variable consideration is constrained.

Revenue from hardware sales is recognized upon the transfer of control to a customer, which is defined as an entity’s ability to direct the use of and obtain substantially all of the remaining benefits of an asset.

Revenue from software licenses is recognized at the inception of either the initial license term or the inception of an extension or renewal to the license term.

Revenue for operating leases is recognized on a monthly basis over the term of the lease and for sales-type leases at the inception of the lease term.

Revenue from equipment and software maintenance and post-contract support is recognized on a straight-line basis as earned over the terms of the respective contracts. Cost related to such contracts is recognized as incurred.

Revenue and profit under systems integration contracts are recognized over time as the company transfers control of goods or services. The company measures its progress toward satisfaction of its performance obligations using the cost-to-cost method, or when services have been performed, depending on the nature of the project. For contracts accounted for using the cost-to-cost method, revenue and profit recognized in any given accounting period are based on estimates of total projected contract costs. The estimates are continually reevaluated and revised, when necessary, throughout the life of a contract. Any adjustments to revenue and profit resulting from changes in estimates are accounted for in the period of the change in estimate. When estimates indicate that a loss will be incurred on a contract upon completion, a provision for the expected loss is recorded in the period in which the loss becomes evident.

Revenue from time and materials service contracts and outsourcing contracts is recognized as the services are provided using either an objective measure of output or on a straight-line basis over the term of the contract.

The company also enters into multiple-element arrangements, which may include any combination of hardware, software or services. For example, a client may purchase an enterprise server that includes operating system software. In addition, the arrangement may include post-contract support for the software and a contract for post-warranty maintenance for service of the hardware. These arrangements consist of multiple performance obligations, with control over hardware and software transferred in one reporting period and the software support and hardware maintenance services performed across multiple reporting periods. In another example, the company may provide desktop managed services to a client on a long-term multiple-year basis and periodically sell hardware and license software products to the client. The services are provided on a continuous basis across multiple reporting periods and control over the hardware and software products occurs in one reporting period. To the extent that a performance obligation in a multiple-deliverable arrangement is subject to specific guidance, that performance obligation is accounted for in accordance with such specific guidance. An example of such an arrangement may include leased assets which are subject to specific leasing accounting guidance.

In multiple-element arrangements, the company allocates the total transaction price to be earned under the arrangement among the various performance obligations in proportion to their standalone selling prices (relative standalone selling price basis). The standalone selling price for a performance obligation is the price at which the company would sell a promised good or service separately to a customer.

A performance obligation is a promise in a contract to transfer a distinct good or service to the customer. A contract’s transaction price is allocated to each distinct performance obligation and recognized as revenue when, or as, the performance obligation is satisfied. Many of the company’s contracts have a single performance obligation as the promise to transfer the individual goods or services is not separately identifiable from other promises in the contracts and, therefore, not distinct. For contracts with multiple performance obligations, the company allocates the contract’s transaction price to each performance obligation using its best estimate of the standalone selling price of each distinct good or service in the contract. The primary methods used to estimate standalone selling price are as follows: (1) the expected cost plus margin approach, under which the company forecasts its expected costs of satisfying a performance obligation and then adds an appropriate margin for that distinct good or service and (2) the percent discount off of list price approach.

In the Services segment, substantially all of the company’s performance obligations are satisfied over time as work progresses and therefore substantially all of the revenue in this segment is recognized over time. The company generally receives payment for these contracts over time as the performance obligations are satisfied.

In the Technology segment, substantially all of the company’s goods and services are transferred to customers at a single point in time. Revenue on these contracts is recognized when control over the product is transferred to the customer or a software license term begins. The company generally receives payment for these contracts upon signature or within 30 to 60 days.

At March 31, 2018, the company had approximately $1.5 billion of remaining performance obligations of which approximately 50% is estimated to be recognized as revenue by the end of 2019. The company does not disclose the value of unsatisfied performance obligations for (1) contracts with an original expected length of one year or less and (2) contracts for which the company recognizes revenue at the amount to which it has the right to invoice for services performed.

The company discloses disaggregation of its customer revenue by geographic areas and by classes of similar products and services, by segment (see Note 15).

The timing of revenue recognition, billings and cash collections results in billed accounts receivables, unbilled receivables, contract assets and deferred revenue (contract liabilities). The disclosure of contract assets is a new requirement due to the adoption of Topic 606. At December 31, 2017, contract assets were included in accounts receivables, net on the company’s Consolidated Balance Sheet. At March 31, 2018, $6.0 million of long-term contract assets were included in other long-term assets on the company’s Consolidated Balance Sheet.

Significant changes during the three months ended March 31, 2018 in the above contract asset and liability balances were as follows: revenue of $104.6 million was recognized that was included in deferred revenue at December 31, 2017.

The company’s incremental direct costs of obtaining a contract consist of sales commissions which are deferred and amortized ratably over the initial contract life. These costs are classified as current or noncurrent based on the timing of when the company expects to recognize the expense. The current and noncurrent portions of deferred commissions are included in prepaid expenses and other current assets and in other long-term assets, respectively, in the company’s Consolidated Balance Sheets. At March 31, 2018 and December 31, 2017, the company had $10.1 million and $11.0 million, respectively, of deferred commissions. For the three months ended March 31, 2018, $1.7 million of amortization expense related to deferred commissions was recorded in selling, general and administrative expense in the company’s Consolidated Statement of Income.

Costs to fulfill a contract, which are incurred upon initiation of certain services contracts and are related to initial customer setup, are included in outsourcing assets, net in the company’s Consolidated Balance Sheet. The amount of such cost at March 31, 2018 and December 31, 2017 was $77.1 million and $76.0 million, respectively. These costs are amortized over the initial contract life and reported in services cost of sales. During the three months ended March 31, 2018, $3.6 million was amortized. Recoverability of these costs are subject to various business risks. Quarterly, the company compares the carrying value of these assets with the undiscounted future cash flows expected to be generated by them to determine if there is impairment. If impaired, these assets are reduced to an estimated fair value on a discounted cash flow basis. The company prepares its cash flow estimates based on assumptions that it believes to be reasonable but are also inherently uncertain. Actual cash flows could differ from these estimates.

New accounting pronouncements

Accounting Pronouncements Adopted

Effective January 1, 2018, the company adopted ASU No. 2017-07 Compensation - Retirement Benefits (Topic 715): Improving the Presentation of Net Periodic Pension Cost and Net Periodic Postretirement Benefit Cost issued by the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) which requires employers to present the service cost component of net periodic benefit cost in the same income statement line item(s) as other employee compensation costs arising from services rendered during the period. The other components of net periodic benefit cost will be presented separately from the line items that include service cost and outside the subtotal of operating income. ASU No. 2017-07 allows a practical expedient that permits an entity to use amounts disclosed in its pension and other postretirement benefit plan note for the prior comparative periods as the estimation basis for applying the retrospective presentation requirements. The new guidance has been applied on a retrospective basis, using the practical expedient, whereby prior-period financial statements have been adjusted to reflect the adoption of the new guidance, as required by the FASB. For the three months March 31, 2017, $24.5 million of net periodic benefit cost, other than service costs, was reclassified from cost of revenue, selling, general and administrative expenses and research and development expenses to other income (expense), net in the company’s consolidated results of operations (see Note 5).

Effective January 1, 2018, the company adopted ASU No. 2014-09 Revenue from Contracts with Customers (Topic 606) issued by the FASB which establishes principles that an entity shall apply to report useful information to users of financial statements about the nature, amount, timing and uncertainty of revenue and cash flows from a contract with a customer. Topic 606 allows for either “full retrospective” adoption, meaning the standard is applied to all periods presented, or “modified retrospective” adoption, meaning the standard is applied only to the most current period presented in the financial statements. Topic 606 requires the company to recognize revenue for certain transactions, including extended payment term software licenses and short-term software licenses, sooner than the prior rules would allow and requires the company to recognize software license extensions and renewals (the most significant impact upon adoption), later than the prior rules would allow. Topic 606 also requires significantly expanded disclosure requirements. The company has adopted the standard using the modified retrospective method and applied the standard to all contracts that were not completed as of January 1, 2018. The cumulative effect of the adoption was recognized as an increase in the company’s accumulated deficit of $21.4 million on January 1, 2018.

The following table summarizes the effects of adopting this standard on the company’s consolidated financial statements as of and for the three months ended March 31, 2018.



	As Reported			Adjustments			Balances Without Adoption of Topic 606
For the three months ended March 31, 2018
Statement of Income
Revenue
Services	$	568.5		$	2.8		$	571.3
Technology	139.9			(76.8		)	63.1
Costs and expenses
Cost of revenue
Services	470.9			1.8			472.7
Technology	36.3			(0.9		)	35.4
Selling, general and administrative expenses	90.9			0.2			91.1
Operating income	101.8			(75.1		)	26.7
Income before income taxes	62.6			(75.1		)	(12.5		)
Provision for income taxes	20.9			(9.5		)	11.4
Consolidated net income	41.7			(65.6		)	(23.9		)
Net income attributable to Unisys Corporation	40.6			(65.6		)	(25.0		)

As of March 31, 2018
Balance Sheet
Assets
Accounts receivable, net current	492.5			39.1			531.6
Contract assets	46.4			(46.4		)	—
Inventories	22.2			(1.6		)	20.6
Prepaid expenses and other current assets	115.3			1.5			116.8
Outsourcing assets, net	213.4			3.5			216.9
Deferred income taxes - long-term	116.0			1.7			117.7
Other long-term assets	207.1			(24.1		)	183.0
Total assets	2,513.7			(26.3		)	2,487.4
Liabilities
Deferred revenue - current	324.8			15.2			340.0
Other accrued liabilities - current	344.4			(11.8		)	332.6
Long-term deferred revenue	184.9			9.0			193.9
Other long-term liabilities	95.9			5.5			101.4
Equity
Accumulated deficit	(1,943.9		)	(44.2		)	(1,988.1		)
Total liabilities and deficit	2,513.7			(26.3		)	2,487.4

Included in the technology revenue adjustments in the above table is $53.0 million of revenue from software license extensions and renewals which were contracted for in the fourth quarter of 2017 and properly recorded as revenue at that time under the revenue recognition rules then in effect (Topic 605). Upon adoption of the new revenue recognition rules (Topic 606) on January 1, 2018, and since the company adopted Topic 606 under the modified retrospective method whereby prior periods were not restated, the company was required to include this $53.0 million in the cumulative effect adjustment to retained earnings on January 1, 2018. Topic 606 requires revenue related to software license renewals or extensions to be recorded when the new license term begins, which in the case of the $53.0 million is January 1, 2018. The company has excluded revenue and related profit for these software licenses in the above table. This is a one-time adjustment and it will not reoccur in future periods. There are additional adjustments being made in the above table, but they do not represent previously recorded revenue. Those additional adjustments represent other differences between Topic 605 and Topic 606, principally extended payment term software licenses and short-term software licenses both of which are recorded at the inception of the license term under Topic 606, but were required to be recognized ratably over the software license term under Topic 605.

Accounting Pronouncements Not Yet Adopted

In February 2018, the FASB issued ASU No. 2018-02 Income Statement - Reporting Comprehensive Income (Topic 220), which permits companies to reclassify stranded tax effects in accumulated other comprehensive income (AOCI) caused by the U.S. Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 (TCJA) to retained earnings. In addition, a company is required to disclose a description of its accounting policy for releasing income tax effects from AOCI. This update is effective for annual reporting periods beginning after December 15, 2018, with earlier adoption permitted. The new standard can be applied retrospectively, meaning it is applied to all periods in which the income tax effects of the TCJA related to items remaining in AOCI are recognized, or at the beginning of the period of adoption. The company is currently assessing when it will choose to adopt, and is currently evaluating the impact of the adoption on its consolidated financial position.

In June 2016, the FASB issued ASU No. 2016-13 Financial Instruments—Credit Losses (Topic 326): Measurement of Credit Losses on Financial Instruments, which introduces a new model for recognizing credit losses on financial instruments based on an estimate of current expected losses. This includes trade and other receivables, loans and other financial instruments. This update is effective for annual periods beginning after December 15, 2019, with earlier adoption permitted. The company is currently assessing when it will choose to adopt, and is currently evaluating the impact of the adoption on its consolidated financial statements.

In February 2016, the FASB issued ASU No. 2016-02 Leases (Topic 842), which is intended to improve financial reporting about leasing transactions. The ASU requires organizations that lease assets, referred to as lessees, to recognize on the balance sheet the assets and liabilities for the rights and obligations created by those leases. The standard requires disclosures to help investors and other financial statement users better understand the amount, timing and uncertainty of cash flows arising from leases. The standard is effective for annual reporting periods beginning after December 15, 2018, with earlier adoption permitted. The company will adopt the new guidance on January 1, 2019, and is currently evaluating the impact of the adoption on its consolidated results of operations and financial position.