Summary
Canadian Pacific Railway Limited (CP) has filed an 8-K to disclose the adoption of a new accounting standard, ASU 2017-07, for the presentation of net periodic pension and post-retirement benefit costs, effective January 1, 2018. This standard changes how these costs are reported in the Consolidated Statement of Income, requiring current service costs to be presented with other compensation costs, while other components are reported separately from income from operations. Importantly, this change is primarily a presentation shift and has no impact on CP's net income or earnings per share. The company also noted that this new guidance on capitalizing pension costs to the current service cost component had no impact on operating income or capitalized amounts, as CP was already capitalizing an appropriate portion of current service costs for its self-constructed properties. Investors should note that while the presentation of financial statements will change, the underlying financial performance and reported earnings per share remain unaffected by this accounting standard adoption. The company has provided unaudited financial information restated under the new standard as Exhibit 99.1 for comparative purposes. This filing is informational, ensuring consistency in financial reporting going forward.
Key Highlights
- 1Effective January 1, 2018, Canadian Pacific Railway Limited (CP) adopted ASU 2017-07, a new accounting standard for presenting net periodic pension and post-retirement benefit costs.
- 2The adoption is a change in presentation and does not affect Net Income or Earnings Per Share.
- 3Current service costs will now be presented with other compensation costs, while other benefit cost components will be reported outside of operating income.
- 4The new standard's restriction on capitalizing pension costs to the current service cost component had no impact on CP's operating income or capitalized amounts.
- 5CP was already aligning its capitalization practices with the new standard's requirements for self-constructed properties.
- 6Unaudited financial information restated under the new standard is available as Exhibit 99.1.