49 CFR Subpart A - Subpart A—Uniform System of Accounts

(i) Regulations prescribed. Carriers by railroad subject to provisions of the Interstate Commerce Act and not independently operated as electric lines, and each lessor of such a carrier, shall comply with regulations in this part as presented hereinafter.

(ii) Definitions.

1. Abandonment means the withdrawal from transportation service of a branch line or other track segment or facility, representing a permanent reduction in plant.

2. Accounts means the accounts prescribed in this system of accounts.

3. Actually issued as applied to funded debt securities or capital stock issued or assumed by the company, means those which have been sold to bona fide purchasers or holders for a valuable consideration (including those issued in exchange for other securities or other property) and such purchasers or holders secured them free from control by the carriers. Also securities issued as dividends on stock.

4. Actually outstanding as applied to funded debt securities or capital stock issued or assumed by the carrier means those which have been actually issued and are neither retired and canceled nor reacquired and held by or for the accounting company.

5. (a) Affiliated companies means companies or persons that directly, or indirectly through one or more intermediaries control, or are controlled by, or are under common control with, the accounting carrier.

(b) Control (including the terms controlling, controlled by, and under common control with) means the possession directly or indirectly, of the power to direct or cause the direction of the management and policies of a company, whether such power is exercised through one or more intermediary companies, or alone, or in conjunction with, or pursuant to an agreement, and whether such power is established through a majority of minority ownership or voting of securities, common directors, officers or stockholders, voting trusts, holding trusts, associated companies, contract or any other direct or indirect means.

6. Amortization means the gradual extinguishment of an amount in an account by distributing such amount over a fixed period dependent on the requirements of regulatory bodies, over the life of the asset or liability to which it applies, or over the period during which it is anticipated the benefit will be realized.

7. Carrier as used herein and when not otherwise indicated in the context means any carrier to which this system of accounts is applicable.

8. Consolidation means the formation of a new company. See instruction 2–15.

9. Board means the Surface Transportation Board.

10. Compensating balance means the portion of any demand deposit (or any time deposit or certificate of deposit) maintained by a carrier (or by any person on behalf of the carrier) which constitutes support for existing borrowing arrangements of the carrier with a lending institution. Such arrangements include both outstanding borrowings and the assurance of future credit availability. (The compensating balance requirement should be adjusted by the amount of float unless such adjustment would cause the compensating balance to be greater than the cash balance per carrier's books.) The float adjustment is made by subtracting the float from the compensating balance requirement if the collected bank ledger balance exceeds the cash balance per carrier's books or by adding the float to the compensating balance requirement if the collected bank ledger balance is less than the cash balance per carrier's books.

(a) Float means deposits and withdrawals in transit which constitute a difference between the collected bank ledger balance and the cash balance per carrier's books.

11. Cost center refers to an organizational subdivision for which cost data are desired and for which provision is made to accumulate costs such as a terminal, yard, or track segment. A cost center may correspond to a given area of responsibility for which costs are presently accumulated for planning and control. A cost center is the smallest segment of activity or area of responsibility for which costs are accumulated and directly traceable.

12. Cost of renewal means the cost of additional material applied (other than the value assigned second-hand parts remaining in the rebuilt unit) plus the cost of labor used in the rebuilding process, exclusive of the portion applicable to dismantling and repair of old parts reused.

13. Cost of removal means cost of demolishing, dismantling, tearing down or otherwise removing property.

14. Debt issue cost means all costs in connection with the issuance and sale of evidences of debt, such as fees for drafting mortgages and trust deeds; fees for issuing or recording evidences of debt; cost of engraving and printing bonds and certificates of indebtedness; fees paid trustees, specific costs of obtaining governmental authority; fees for legal services; fees and commissions paid underwriters, brokers and salespeople for marketing such evidences for debt; fees and costs of listing on exchanges; and other like costs.

15. Discount as applied to funded debt securities or capital stock issued or assumed by the carrier, means the excess of the par or face value of the securities plus interest or dividends accrued at the date of the sale over the cash value of the consideration received from their sale.

16. Equity security encompasses any instrument representing ownership shares (e.g., common, preferred and other capital stock), or the right to acquire (e.g., warrants, rights, and call options) or dispose of (e.g., put options) ownership shares in an enterprise at fixed or determinable prices. The term does not encompass preferred stock that by its terms either must be redeemed by the issuing enterprise or is redeemable at the option of the investor, nor does it include treasury stock or convertible bonds.

(a) Marketable, as applied to an equity security, means an equity security as to which sales prices or bid and ask prices are currently available on a national securities exchange (i.e., those registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission) or in the over-the-counter market. In the over-the-counter market, an equity security shall be considered marketable when a quotation is publicly reported by the National Association of Securities Dealers Automatic Quotations System or by the National Quotations Bureau, Inc. (provided, in the latter case, that quotations are available from at least three dealers). Equity securities traded in foreign markets shall be considered marketable when such markets are of a breadth and scope comparable to those referred to above. This definition is not met by restricted stock (securities for which sale is restricted by a governmental or contractual requirement except where such requirement terminates within one year or where the holder has the power to cause the requirement to be met within one year). Any portion of the stock which can reasonably be expected to qualify for sale within one year, such as may be the case under Rule 144 or similar rules of the Securities and Exchange Commission, is not considered restricted.

(b) Market value refers to the aggregate of the market price of a single share or unit times the number of shares or units of each marketable equity security in the portfolio. When an equity has taken positions involving short sales, sales of calls, and purchases of puts for marketable equity securities and the same securities are included in the portfolio, those contracts shall be taken into consideration in the determination of market value of the marketable equity securities.

(c) Cost, as applied to a marketable equity security, refers to the original cost as adjusted for unrealized holding gains and losses.

17. (a) Income taxes means taxes based on income determined under provisions of the United States Internal Revenue Code and foreign, state and other taxes (including franchise taxes) based on income.

(b) Income tax expense means the amount of income taxes (whether or not currently payable or refundable) allocable to a period in the determination of net income.

(c) Pretax accounting income means income or loss for a period, exclusive of related income tax expense.

(d) Taxable income means the excess of revenues over deductions or the excess of deductions over revenue to be reported for income tax purposes for a period.

(e) Timing differences means differences between the periods in which transactions affect taxable income and the periods in which they enter into the determination of pretax accounting income. Timing differences originate in one period and reverse or turn around in one or more subsequent periods. Some timing differences reduce income taxes that would otherwise be payable currently; others increase income taxes that would otherwise be payable currently.

(f) Permanent differences means differences between taxable income and pretax accounting income arising from transactions that, under applicable tax laws and regulations, will not be offset by corresponding differences or turn around in other periods.

(g) Tax effects means differentials in income taxes of a period attributable to (1) revenue or expense transactions which enter into the determination of pretax accounting income in one period and into the determination of taxable income in another period, (2) deductions or credits that may be carried backward or forward for income tax purposes and (3) adjustments of prior periods and direct entries to other stockholders' equity accounts which enter into the determination of taxable income in a period but which do not enter into the determination of pretax accounting income of that period. A permanent difference does not result in a tax effect as that term is used in this definition.

(h) Deferred taxes means tax effects which are deferred for allocation to income tax expense of future periods.

(i) Interperiod tax allocation means the process of apportioning income taxes among periods.

(j) Tax allocation within a period means the process of apportioning income tax expenses applicable to a given period between income before extraordinary items and extraordinary items, and of associating the income tax effects of adjustments of prior periods and direct entries to other stockholders' equity accounts with these items.

18. (a) Investor means a business entity that holds an investment in voting stock of another company.

(b) Investee means a corporation that issued voting stock held by an investor.

(c) Corporate joint venture is a company owned and operated as a separate and specific business or project for the mutual benefit of the members of the group. Joint facilities for purposes of this system of accounts are not considered corporate joint ventures.

(d) Dividends when applied to distributions received from investees unless otherwise specified, means dividends received or receivable in cash, other assets, or another class of stock and does not include stock dividends or stock splits.

(e) Earnings or losses of an investee and financial position of an investee refer to net income (or net loss) and financial position of an investee determined in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles.

(f) Undistributed earnings of an investee means net income less dividends declared whether received or not.

(g) Date of acquisition is the date on which the investor assumes the rights of ownership. Ordinarily, this is the date assets are received and other assets are given or securities issued.

19. Joint facility means any owned or leased carrier operating property occupied or operated jointly by the carrier and one or more other carriers, under an arrangement whereby the cost and income are apportioned to the parties to the joint agreement. Portions of a structure or other property used exclusively by each of two or more carriers are not joint facilities.

20. Ledger value of an account means the undepreciated or unamortized cost of acquisition of the item to the carrier, recorded in the general ledger. In case the cost of any item of property is not shown separately in the ledger, the ledger value of that item shall be its proportionate share of the value of the entire group in which the particular property is included.

21. Merger means the acquisition of one company by another. See instruction 2–15.

22. Minor items of property means the associated parts or items of which units of property are composed.

23. Net railway operating income: Operating revenue remaining after deducting operating expenses, income taxes on ordinary income, and the provision for deferred income taxes. Also, in arriving at NROI, deduct the Income from Lease of Road and Equipment and add the Rent for Leased Road and Equipment, formerly accounts 509 and 542, respectively.

24. Net salvage value means salvage value of property retired less the cost of removal.

25. Nominally issued as applied to funded debt securities or capital stock issued or assumed by the carrier, means those which have been signed, certified by trustees, or otherwise executed, and placed with the proper officer for sale and delivery, or pledged, or otherwise placed in some special fund of the accounting company, but which have not been sold or issued directly to the trustees of such fund in accordance with contractual requirements.

26. Nominally outstanding as applied to funded debt securities or capital stock issued or assumed by the carrier, means those which, after being actually issued, have been reacquired by or for the accounting company under such circumstances which require them to be considered as held alive and not retired and canceled.

27. Premium as applied to funded debt securities or capital stock issued or assumed by the carrier, means the excess of the cash value of the consideration received from their sale over the sum of their par (stated value of no par stock) or face value and interest or dividends accrued at the date of sale.

28. Programmed track replacements are costs incurred as part of a track replacement program or planned expenditures. Programmed track replacements are generally performed by relatively large work gangs which, on the basis of programmed and authorized work orders, use heavy mechanized equipment to replace rail, ties and other track material. For guidance on what not to capitalize, see the notes to the text of Accounts 8, 9 and 11.

29. Property retired means units of property which have been removed, sold, abandoned, destroyed, or which for any cause have been permanently withdrawn from service; also minor items of property not replaced.

30. Rail Transportation Property. Rail transportation property is all property and other assets, irrespective of ownership, that comprise the entire operating unit devoted to rail transportation service. This definition comprises the following accounts: