1.8 New Accounting Pronouncements
New accounting policies issued by the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB), which are effective on or after January 1, 2006, are the following:
Statement No.151 Inventory Cost, an amendment of ARB No. 42, Chapter 4, was issued in November 2004 and is effective for fiscal years beginning after June 2005. FAS-151 clarifies that abnormal amounts of idle facility expense, freight, handling costs, and wasted materials should be recognized as current-period charges and requires the allocation of fixed production overheads to inventory based on the normal capacity of the production facilities. The application of FAS-151 did not have a significant impact on earnings and financial position.
Revised Statement No. 123 Share-Based Payment was issued in December 2004. On April 14, 2005, the SEC provided additional phased-in guidance regarding Statement No. 123(R). Under the terms of this guidance the provisions became effective for the Company on January 1, 2006. Statement 123(R) requires all share-based payments to employees, including grants of employee stock options, to be recognized in the financial statements based on their fair values (i.e. pro-forma disclosure is no longer an alternative to financial statement recognition). The application of FAS-123(R) did not have a materially different impact than the pro-forma earnings disclosed in the note to the Stock Incentive Plan.
FASB Interpretation No. 47 (FIN 47), Accounting for Conditional Asset Retirement Obligations, which aims to clarify the requirement to record liabilities stemming from a legal obligation to clean up and retire fixed assets, like a plant or a factory, when a retirement depends on a future event. FIN 47 is effective for fiscal years ending after December 15, 2005. The application of FIN 47 did not have any significant impact on earnings and financial position.
FASB Interpretation No. 48 (FIN 48), Accounting for Uncertainty in Income Taxes, creates a single model to address uncertainty in tax positions prescribing a minimum threshold for the recognition of tax positions. FIN 48 also provides guidance on de-recognition, measurement, classification, interest and penalties, accounting in interim periods, disclosure and transition. In addition, FIN 48 clearly scopes out income taxes from FASB No. 5, Accounting for Contingencies. FIN 48 is effective for fiscal years beginning after December 15, 2006. The Company has yet not completed its analysis of the impact of FIN 48.
Statement No.157, Fair Value Measurements, establishes a framework for measuring fair value in generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP), clarifies the definition of fair value within that framework, and expands disclosures about the use of fair value measurements. FAS-157 was issued in September 2006 and is effective for fiscal years beginning after November 15, 2007. The Company has not yet evaluated the effects on earnings and financial position of the application of FAS-157.
Statement No.158 Employers' Accounting for Defined Benefit Pension and Other Postretirement Plans, an amendment of FAS-87, 88, 106, and 132(R). FAS-158 was issued in September 2006. FAS-158 requires an employer to recognize the overfunded or underfunded status of a defined benefit postretirement plan in its statement of financial position beginning with fiscal years ending after December 15, 2006. FAS-158 requires the measurement of plan assets and benefit obligations as of the date of the employer's fiscal year-end beginning with fiscal years ending after December 15, 2008. The Company has not yet evaluated the effects on earnings and financial position of the application of FAS-158.
1.9 Income Taxes
The effective tax rate for the first nine months of 2006 was 12.3%, which compares with 34.1% in the first nine months of 2005. During the third quarter of 2006, the Company recognized a non-cash income tax benefit of $57 million resulting from the release of income tax reserves associated with the United States income tax audit examination cycle. On September 18, 2006, following the recent completion of a United States Internal Revenue Service ("IRS") examination, the statute of limitations covering the United States federal income tax returns of Autoliv, Inc. and its United States subsidiaries for all years through December 31, 2002 closed. The recently completed IRS examination and the corresponding closing of the statute of limitations covered the six tax years since the formation of the Autoliv, Inc. United States tax group in 1997.
During the second and third quarters, several subsidiaries recorded adjustments to their estimates of prior year income tax provisions. During the first quarter, several subsidiaries completed studies of R&D tax credit eligibility and concluded that they are able to substantially increase the benefit claimed for these credits for both 2005 and 2006. The 2005 catch-up effect was recorded entirely in the first quarter. Excluding the total of $71 million of discrete tax items, the effective rate for the nine-month period would have approximated historical levels. These discrete items include the $57 million release of income tax reserves, the R&D tax credit benefit noted above and various other items including provision to tax reserve adjustments. The $66 million of discrete tax items in the third quarter only, created tax income and led to a negative effective tax rate. Excluding the discrete items, the third quarter tax rate would have approximated historical levels.
At September 30, 2006, the Company had approximately $56 million of remaining reserves for income taxes that may become payable in future periods as a result of income tax audits. The Company provides reserves on the basis that tax authorities will examine all issues in all open years. At any given time the Company is undergoing income tax audits in several tax jurisdictions and covering multiple years. The Company expects the completion of certain tax audits and the closure of certain tax years in the near term and believes that it is reasonably possible that additional reserves could be released into income during fiscal year 2006.
1.10 Retirement Plans
The Company has non-contributory defined benefit pension plans covering employees at most United States operations. Benefits are based on an average of the employee's earnings in the years proceeding retirement and on credited service. Certain supplemental unfunded plan arrangements also provide retirement benefits to specified groups of participants.
Autoliv, in consultation with the relevant plan fiduciaries, has revised its approach to investing global pension assets. From 2006 onwards, the level of equity exposure will be reduced from broadly 80% to approximately 65%. This move will help reduce volatility in both balance sheet and income statement figures for pensions going forward and takes into account the increasing maturity of the Company's United Kingdom pension plan.
The main defined benefit plan is a United States plan, for which the funding policy is that the funding level will target meeting the accrued benefit obligation (ABO).
The Company has frozen participation in the United States pension plans to include only those employees hired as of December 31, 2003.
The Company's main non-United States defined benefit plan is the United Kingdom plan. The United Kingdom defined benefit plan was subject to a significant curtailment in 2005 in connection with a plant closure.
The Net Periodic Benefit Costs related to Other Post-retirement Benefits were not significant to the Consolidated Financial Statements of the Company for the three months ended September 30, 2006.
For further information on Pension Plans and Other Post-retirement Benefits, see Note 18 to the Consolidated Financial Statements of the Company included in the Company's Annual Report for the year ended December 31, 2005.
The components of the total net benefit cost associated with the Company's defined benefit retirement plans are as follows: |