Coca Cola 2011 Annual Report Download - page 91

Pension and Other Postretirement Benefit Plans
Our Company sponsors and/or contributes to pension and postretirement health care and life insurance benefit plans covering
substantially all U.S. employees. We also sponsor nonqualified, unfunded defined benefit pension plans for certain associates and
participate in multi-employer pension plans in the United States. In addition, our Company and its subsidiaries have various
pension plans and other forms of postretirement arrangements outside the United States. Refer to Note 13.
Income Taxes
Income tax expense includes United States, state, local and international income taxes, plus a provision for U.S. taxes on
undistributed earnings of foreign subsidiaries not deemed to be indefinitely reinvested. Deferred tax assets and liabilities are
recognized for the tax consequences of temporary differences between the financial reporting basis and the tax basis of existing
assets and liabilities. The tax rate used to determine the deferred tax assets and liabilities is the enacted tax rate for the year and
manner in which the differences are expected to reverse. Valuation allowances are recorded to reduce deferred tax assets to the
amount that will more likely than not be realized. The Company records taxes that are collected from customers and remitted to
governmental authorities on a net basis in our consolidated statements of income.
The Company is involved in various tax matters, with respect to some of which the outcome is uncertain. We establish reserves to
remove some or all of the tax benefit of any of our tax positions at the time we determine that it becomes uncertain based upon
one of the following conditions: (1) the tax position is not ‘‘more likely than not’’ to be sustained, (2) the tax position is ‘‘more
likely than not’’ to be sustained, but for a lesser amount, or (3) the tax position is ‘‘more likely than not’’ to be sustained, but not
in the financial period in which the tax position was originally taken. For purposes of evaluating whether or not a tax position is
uncertain, (1) we presume the tax position will be examined by the relevant taxing authority that has full knowledge of all relevant
information; (2) the technical merits of a tax position are derived from authorities such as legislation and statutes, legislative
intent, regulations, rulings and case law and their applicability to the facts and circumstances of the tax position; and (3) each tax
position is evaluated without consideration of the possibility of offset or aggregation with other tax positions taken. A number of
years may elapse before a particular uncertain tax position is audited and finally resolved or when a tax assessment is raised. The
number of years subject to tax assessments varies depending on the tax jurisdiction. The tax benefit that has been previously
reserved because of a failure to meet the ‘‘more likely than not’’ recognition threshold would be recognized in our income tax
expense in the first interim period when the uncertainty disappears under any one of the following conditions: (1) the tax position
is ‘‘more likely than not’’ to be sustained, (2) the tax position, amount, and/or timing is ultimately settled through negotiation or
litigation, or (3) the statute of limitations for the tax position has expired. Refer to Note 14.
Translation and Remeasurement
We translate the assets and liabilities of our foreign subsidiaries from their respective functional currencies to U.S. dollars at the
appropriate spot rates as of the balance sheet date. Generally, our foreign subsidiaries use the local currency as their functional
currency. Changes in the carrying value of these assets and liabilities attributable to fluctuations in spot rates are recognized in
foreign currency translation adjustment, a component of AOCI. Refer to Note 15. Income statement accounts are translated using
the monthly average exchange rates during the year.
Monetary assets and liabilities denominated in a currency that is different from a reporting entity’s functional currency must first
be remeasured from the applicable currency to the legal entity’s functional currency. The effect of this remeasurement process is
recognized in the line item other income (loss) — net in our consolidated statements of income and is partially offset by the
impact of our economic hedging program for certain exposures on our consolidated balance sheets. Refer to Note 5.
Hyperinflationary Economies
A hyperinflationary economy is one that has cumulative inflation of approximately 100 percent or more over a three-year period.
Effective January 1, 2010, Venezuela was determined to be a hyperinflationary economy, and the Venezuelan government
devalued the bolivar by resetting the official rate of exchange (‘‘official rate’’) from 2.15 bolivars per U.S. dollar to 2.6 bolivars per
U.S. dollar for essential goods and 4.3 bolivars per U.S. dollar for nonessential goods. In accordance with hyperinflationary
accounting under accounting principles generally accepted in the United States, our local subsidiary was required to use the U.S.
dollar as its functional currency. As a result, we remeasured the net assets of our Venezuelan subsidiary using the official rate for
nonessential goods of 4.3 bolivars per U.S. dollar. During the first quarter of 2010, we recorded a loss of $103 million related to
the remeasurement of our Venezuelan subsidiary’s net assets. The loss was recorded in the line item other income (loss) — net in
our consolidated statement of income. We classified the impact of the remeasurement loss in the line item effect of exchange rate
changes on cash and cash equivalents in our consolidated statement of cash flows.
89