Our Consolidated Financial Statements are prepared in accordance with U.S. GAAP. The preparation of these financial statements requires us to make estimates and judgments that affect the reported amounts of assets, liabilities, revenues and expenses. We continually evaluate our estimates, which are based upon historical experience and on assumptions that we believe to be reasonable under the circumstances. These estimates form the basis for our judgments about the recognition of revenues, expenses, carrying values of our assets and liabilities, of which values are not readily apparent from other sources. Actual results may differ from these estimates.
During the first quarter of 2018, the performance conditions for 260,344 shares of the Company’s common stock granted under the Company’s 2010 Stock Incentive Plan (the “2010 SIP”) were determined by the Compensation Committee to have been satisfied relative to performance-based grants issued in 2013. These grants had a performance measurement period that concluded on December 31, 2017. The vesting condition for these grants requires continuous employment for a period of up to ten years from the January 2013 grant date in order for the awarded shares to become fully vested and nonforfeitable. During the third quarter of 2018, the performance conditions for 2,229,561 shares of the Company’s common stock granted under the Company’s 2010 SIP were determined by the Compensation Committee to have been satisfied relative to performance-based grants issued in July 2013. These grants had a performance measurement period that concluded on June 30, 2018. The vesting condition for these grants requires continuous employment for a period of up to seven years from the July 2013 grant date in order for the awarded shares to become fully vested and nonforfeitable. As a result of the awarding of these shares, the grantees will be eligible to receive payments of dividends and exercise voting privileges after the awarding date, and the awarded shares will be included as issued and outstanding common stock shares and included in the calculation of basic and in diluted net income per share, where the net income attributable to unvested awarded stock plans is excluded from the total net income attributable to common shares.
The effective tax rate on income from operations was 24.2% in 2019 and 25.6% in 2018. The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 (the “Tax Reform Act”) made changes to the U.S. tax code that affected our income tax rate beginning in 2017. The Tax Reform Act reduced the U.S. federal corporate income tax rate from 35.0% to 21.0% and requires companies to pay a one-time transition tax on certain unrepatriated earnings from foreign subsidiaries that is payable over eight years. The Tax Reform Act also established new tax laws that became effective January 1, 2018. The 2018 and 2019 effective tax rates reflect the reduction in the federal corporate income tax rate. The reduction in the effective tax rate in 2019 as compared to 2018 was driven by changes in our state tax footprint and corresponding apportionment as well as changes to tax rates in certain states. The effective tax rates for 2018 and 2019 reflect the adoption of FASB Accounting Standards Update 2016-09, “Improvements to Employee Share Based Payment Accounting” (“ASU 2016-09”) in the first quarter of 2017. ASU 2016-09, which requires upon vesting of stock-based compensation that any tax implications be treated as a discrete credit to the income tax expense in the quarter of vesting, amends guidance issued in ASC Topic 718, Compensation - Stock Compensation.
Includes $5.8 million of future lease commitments not reflected on the balance sheet.
The adoption of Topic 842 had a significant impact on the Company’s balance sheet with the recognition of the operating lease right-of-use asset and the liability for operating leases. Upon adoption, leases that were classified as operating leases under Topic 840 were classified as operating leases under Topic 842. For the adoption of Topic 842, the Company recorded an adjustment of $202.9 million to operating lease right-of-use asset and the related lease liability, with no impact to retained earnings. The deferred rent previously accrued under Topic 840 was reclassified to the right-of-use asset upon the adoption of Topic 842. The lease liability is the present value of the remaining minimum lease payments, determined under Topic 840, discounted using the Company’s incremental borrowing rate at the effective date of January 1, 2019. As permitted under Topic 842, the Company elected to use the practical expedient that permits the Company to not reassess whether a contract is or contains a lease, the classification of the Company’s existing operating leases, and initial direct costs for any existing leases. The Company did not elect the practical expedient to use hindsight in determining the lease term (when considering lessee options to extend or terminate the lease and to purchase the underlying asset) and in assessing impairment of the Company’s right-of-use assets. The application of the practical expedient did not have a significant impact on the measurement of the operating lease liability.
The Company records income tax expense using the asset-and-liability method of accounting for deferred income taxes. Under this method, deferred tax assets and liabilities are recognized for the expected future tax consequences of temporary differences between the financial statement carrying values and the income tax bases of the Company’s assets and liabilities.
The following table shows the investments’ gross unrealized loss and fair value, aggregated by investment category and length of time that individual securities have been in a continuous unrealized loss position as of December 31, 2018:
The unrealized losses in the Company’s investments in U.S. Treasury Securities and obligations of U.S. Government Agencies and bonds from corporate issuers were caused by interest rate increases. At December 31, 2018, the Company had 20 securities in an unrealized loss position. The contractual cash flows of the U.S. Treasury Securities and obligations of the U.S. Government agencies investments are either guaranteed by the U.S. Government or an agency of the U.S. Government. Accordingly, it is expected that the securities would not be settled at a price less than the amortized cost of the Company’s investment. The corporate securities are highly rated securities with no indicators of potential impairment. Based upon the ability and intent of the Company to hold these investments until recovery of fair value, which may be maturity, the bonds were not considered to be other-than-temporarily impaired at December 31, 2018.
Long-term debt at December 31, 2019 and 2018 consisted of the following:
The Company's management is responsible for these financial statements, for maintaining effective internal control over financial reporting, and for its assessment of the effectiveness of internal control over financial reporting, included in the accompanying Management’s Report on Internal Control Over Financial Reporting. Our responsibility is to express an opinion on the Company's financial statements and an opinion on the Company's internal control over financial reporting based on our audits. We are a public accounting firm registered with the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (United States) ("PCAOB") and are required to be independent with respect to the Company in accordance with the U.S. federal securities laws and the applicable rules and regulations of the Securities and Exchange Commission and the PCAOB.