Revenue Recognition Accounting Policy
Monsanto derives most of its revenue from three main sources: sales of branded conventional seed and branded seed with biotechnology traits; royalties and license revenues from licensed biotechnology traits and genetic material; and sales of agricultural chemical products.
Revenues from all branded seed sales are recognized when the title to the products is transferred. When the right of return exists in Monsanto’s seed business, sales revenues are reduced at the time of sale to reflect expected returns. In order to estimate the expected returns, management analyzes historical returns, economic trends, market conditions, and changes in customer demand.
Revenues for agricultural chemical products are recognized when title to the products is transferred. Monsanto recognizes revenue on products it sells to distributors when, according to the terms of the sales agreements, delivery has occurred, performance is complete, no right of return exists, and pricing is fixed or determinable at the time of sale.
There are several additional conditions for recognition of revenue including that the collection of sales proceeds must be reasonably assured based on historical experience and current market conditions and that there must be no further performance obligations under the sale or the royalty or license agreement.
Monsanto follows the Revenue Recognition topic of the ASC. The Revenue Recognition topic of the ASC affects Monsanto’s recognition of license revenues from biotechnology traits sold through third-party seed companies. Trait royalties and license revenues are recorded when earned, usually when the third-party seed companies sell their seeds containing Monsanto traits to growers.
To reduce credit exposure in Latin America, Monsanto collects payments on certain customer accounts in grain. Monsanto does not take physical custody of the grain or assume the associated inventory risk and therefore does not record revenue or the related cost of sales for the grain. Such payments in grain are negotiated at or near the time Monsanto’s products are sold to the customers and are valued at the prevailing grain commodity prices. By entering into forward sales contracts with grain merchants, Monsanto mitigates the commodity price exposure from the time a contract is signed with a customer until the time a grain merchant collects the grain from the customer on Monsanto’s behalf. The grain merchant converts the grain to cash for Monsanto. These forward sales contracts do not qualify for hedge accounting under the Derivatives and Hedging topic of the ASC. Accordingly, the gain or loss on these derivatives is recognized in current earnings.
Source: Monsanto Co., Annual Report
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