Summary of Significant Accounting Policies |
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Accounting Policies [Abstract] | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Summary of Significant Accounting Policies |
Summary of Significant Accounting Policies
Interim Unaudited Financial Information
The results for the interim periods shown in this report are not necessarily indicative of future financial results. The accompanying condensed consolidated financial statements include all adjustments necessary to present fairly the financial position of the Trust as of March 31, 2018 and the results of its operations for the three month periods ended March 31, 2018 and 2017, respectively, and its cash flows for the three month periods ended March 31, 2018 and 2017, respectively. Such adjustments are of a normal recurring nature.
Principles of Consolidation and Basis of Presentation
The accompanying condensed consolidated financial statements include our accounts and the accounts of our wholly owned subsidiaries. All intercompany accounts and transactions have been eliminated in consolidation. The accompanying condensed consolidated financial statements should be read in conjunction with the annual financial statements and notes thereto included in the Trust’s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2017, which was filed with the SEC on February 28, 2018. Certain information and footnote disclosures normally included in financial statements prepared in accordance with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America (“GAAP”) have been condensed or omitted from this report.
Use of Estimates in the Preparation of Financial Statements
The preparation of consolidated 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 contingent asset and liabilities at the date of the financial statements and reported amounts of income and expenses during the reporting period. Actual results could differ from those estimates.
Recently Adopted Accounting Guidance
Revenue from Contracts with Customers
In May 2014, the Financial Accounting Standards Board (the “FASB”) issued Accounting Standards Update (“ASU”) No. 2014-09, “Revenue Recognition (Topic 606): Revenue from Contracts with Customers.” The ASU provides a five-step revenue recognition model in which an entity should recognize revenue to depict the transfer of promised goods or services to customers in an amount that reflects the consideration to which the entity expects to be entitled in exchange for those goods or services. The ASU allows for a practical expedient for companies to exclude sales or similar taxes collected from customers from the transaction price. Additionally, the ASU requires disclosures sufficient to enable users to understand the nature, amount, timing, and uncertainty of revenue and cash flows arising from contracts with customers, including qualitative and quantitative disclosures about contracts with customers, significant judgments and changes in judgments, and assets recognized from the costs to obtain or fulfill a contract.
The most significant impact of the standard relates to our accounting for easement agreements and to a lesser extent oil and gas royalties. Specifically, we recognize revenue for term easements upon execution of the easement agreements, and as a result, we no longer defer revenue on our term easements. Historically, oil and gas royalties have been adjusted for production taxes paid by operators with a charge to taxes, other than income taxes and a corresponding increase to revenue. We elected the practical expedient allowed by the ASU and exclude production taxes from revenue. Revenue recognition related to our land sales and other sundry income remains substantially unchanged. Adoption of the standard resulted in (i) the acceleration of easement and sundry income as unearned revenue decreases, (ii) a reduction in oil and gas royalty revenue with a corresponding reduction in taxes, other than income taxes, and (iii) an increase in income tax expense for the three months ended March 31, 2017.
We adopted the new standard on January 1, 2018 applying the full retrospective method with optional practical expedients. Adoption of the standard using the full retrospective method required us to restate certain previously reported results as though the new standard had always been in effect.
Adoption of the standard related to revenue recognition impacted our previously reported results as follows (in thousands, except per share amounts):
Presentation of Net Periodic Pension Cost
In March 2017, the FASB issued ASU No. 2017-07, “Compensation - Retirement Benefits (Topic 715): Improving the Presentation of Net Periodic Pension Cost and Net Periodic Postretirement Benefit Cost.” This ASU requires employers to disaggregate the service cost component from the other components of net benefit cost in the income statement, provides explicit guidance on the presentation of the service cost component and the other components of net benefit cost in the income statement and allows only the service cost component of net benefit cost to be eligible for capitalization. The service cost component is recorded within salaries and related employee benefits expense, and the other components of net benefit costs are recorded in other income.
We adopted the new standard on January 1, 2018 applying the retrospective method. Adoption of the standard using the retrospective method required us to restate certain previously reported results as though the new standard had always been in effect.
Adoption of the standard related to presentation of net periodic pension cost and the standard related to revenue recognition impacted our previously reported results for operating income and other income as follows (in thousands):
Impact of the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act on Certain Income Tax Effects
In March 2018, the FASB issued ASU 2018-05, “Amendments to SEC Paragraphs Pursuant to SEC Staff Accounting Bulletin No. 118.” The amendments in this update provide guidance on when to record and disclose provisional amounts for certain income tax effects of the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act ("Tax Reform Act"). The amendments also require any provisional amounts or subsequent adjustments to be included in net income from continuing operations. Additionally, this ASU discusses required disclosures that an entity must make with regard to the Tax Reform Act. This ASU is effective immediately as new information is available to adjust provisional amounts that were previously recorded. The Trust has adopted this standard and will continue to evaluate indicators that may give rise to a change in our tax provision as a result of the Tax Reform Act.
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