Equifax Inc. Quarterly report pursuant to Section 13 or 15(d)

Quarterly report pursuant to Section 13 or 15(d)

GOODWILL AND INTANGIBLE ASSETS

GOODWILL AND INTANGIBLE ASSETS

3 Months Ended

Mar. 31, 2015

Goodwill and Intangible Assets Disclosure [Abstract]

Goodwill. Goodwill represents the cost in excess of the fair value of the net assets acquired in a business combination. Goodwill is tested for impairment at the reporting unit level on an annual basis and on an interim basis if an event occurs or circumstances change that would reduce the fair value of a reporting unit below its carrying value. We perform our annual goodwill impairment tests as of September 30.

In January 2015, the Personal Solutions business in the United Kingdom was consolidated into the North America Personal Solutions segment. The change was driven by an enterprise wide strategy to maximize the penetration of our products and services in our targeted markets. We determined that market focus and operating efficiency could be further improved by reorganizing and consolidating the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom Personal Solutions operating activities into one segment called Personal Solutions. To reflect this new organizational structure, we have reallocated goodwill from the Europe reporting unit to the Personal Solutions reporting unit based on the relative fair values of the respective portions of Europe. A change in reporting units requires that goodwill be tested for impairment. During the first quarter of 2015, we performed a goodwill impairment test prior to and following the reallocation of goodwill for Europe and Personal Solutions, which resulted in no impairment.

Changes in the amount of goodwill for the three months ended March 31, 2015, are as follows:



	U.S. Information Solutions		International			Workforce Solutions		Personal Solutions			Total
	(In millions)
Balance, December 31, 2014⁽¹⁾	$	1,120.6	$	487.0		$	907.6	$	91.6		$	2,606.8
Acquisitions	—		—			—		—			—
Adjustments to initial purchase price allocation	—		—			—		—			—
Foreign currency translation	—		(16.0		)	—		(3.4		)	(19.4		)
Tax benefits of stock options exercised	—		—			—		—			—
Balance, March 31, 2015	$	1,120.6	$	471.0		$	907.6	$	88.2		$	2,587.4

(1)The December 31, 2014 balances have been recast to reflect the new organizational structure. As of December 31, 2014, the Personal Solutions goodwill includes $75.0 million of goodwill from the Europe reporting unit.

Indefinite-Lived Intangible Assets. Indefinite-lived intangible assets consist of indefinite-lived reacquired rights representing the value of rights which we had granted to various affiliate credit reporting agencies that were reacquired in the U.S. and Canada. At the time we acquired these agreements, they were considered perpetual in nature under the accounting guidance in place at that time and, therefore, the useful lives are considered indefinite. Indefinite-lived intangible assets are not amortized. We are required to test indefinite-lived intangible assets for impairment annually and whenever events or circumstances indicate that there may be an impairment of the asset value. We perform our annual indefinite-lived intangible asset impairment test as of September 30. Our indefinite-lived intangible asset carrying amounts did not change materially during the three months ended March 31, 2015.

Purchased Intangible Assets. Purchased intangible assets represent the estimated acquisition date fair value of acquired intangible assets used in our business. Purchased data files represent the estimated acquisition date fair value of consumer credit files acquired primarily through the purchase of independent credit reporting agencies in the U.S. and Canada. We expense the cost of modifying and updating credit files in the period such costs are incurred. Our reacquired rights represent the value of rights which we had granted to Computer Sciences Corporation that were reacquired in connection with the acquisition of certain assets of CSC Credit Services (“CSC Credit Services Acquisition”) in the fourth quarter of 2012. These reacquired rights are being amortized over the remaining term of the affiliation agreement on a straight-line basis until August 1, 2018. We amortize all of our purchased intangible assets on a straight-line basis. For additional information about the useful lives related to our purchased intangible assets, see Note 1 of the Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements in our 2014 Form 10-K.

Purchased intangible assets at March 31, 2015 and December 31, 2014 consisted of the following:



	March 31, 2015							December 31, 2014
	Gross		Accumulated Amortization			Net		Gross		Accumulated Amortization			Net
Definite-lived intangible assets:	(In millions)
Purchased data files	$	672.6	$	(211.8	)	$	460.8	$	692.0	$	(218.8	)	$	473.2
Acquired software and technology	53.0		(28.7		)	24.3		53.9		(26.4		)	27.5
Customer relationships	569.0		(210.3		)	358.7		570.7		(204.3		)	366.4
Reacquired rights	73.3		(29.5		)	43.8		73.3		(26.3		)	47.0
Proprietary database	7.4		(5.5		)	1.9		7.4		(5.4		)	2.0
Non-compete agreements	26.3		(13.6		)	12.7		27.0		(11.8		)	15.2
Trade names and other intangible assets	50.4		(29.9		)	20.5		51.1		(28.5		)	22.6
Total definite-lived intangible assets	$	1,452.0	$	(529.3	)	$	922.7	$	1,475.4	$	(521.5	)	$	953.9

Amortization expense from continuing operations related to purchased intangible assets was $31.3 million and $32.7 million during the three months ended March 31, 2015 and 2014, respectively.

- Definition

The entire disclosure for the aggregate amount of goodwill and a description of intangible assets, which may include (a) for amortizable intangible assets (also referred to as finite-lived intangible assets), the carrying amount, the amount of any significant residual value, and the weighted-average amortization period, (b) for intangible assets not subject to amortization (also referred to as indefinite-lived intangible assets), the carrying amount, and (c) the amount of research and development assets acquired and written off in the period, including the line item in the income statement in which the amounts written off are aggregated, if not readily apparent from the income statement. Also discloses (a) for amortizable intangibles assets in total and by major class, the gross carrying amount and accumulated amortization, the total amortization expense for the period, and the estimated aggregate amortization expense for each of the five succeeding fiscal years, (b) for intangible assets not subject to amortization the carrying amount in total and by major class, and (c) for goodwill, in total and for each reportable segment, the changes in the carrying amount of goodwill during the period (including the aggregate amount of goodwill acquired, the aggregate amount of impairment losses recognized, and the amount of goodwill included in the gain (loss) on disposal of a reporting unit). If any part of goodwill has not been allocated to a reportable segment, discloses the unallocated amount and the reasons for not allocating. For each impairment loss recognized related to an intangible asset (excluding goodwill), discloses: (a) a description of the impaired intangible asset and the facts and circumstances leading to the impairment, (b) the amount of the impairment loss and the method for determining fair value, (c) the caption in the income statement or the statement of activities in which the impairment loss is aggregated, and (d) the segment in which the impaired intangible asset is reported. For each goodwill impairment loss recognized, discloses: (a) a description of the facts and circumstances leading to the impairment, (b) the amount of the impairment loss and the method of determining the fair value of the associated reporting unit, and (c) if a recognized impairment loss is an estimate not finalized and the reasons why the estimate is not final. May also disclose the nature and amount of any significant adjustments made to a previous estimate of an impairment loss.

+ References + Details